Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Marco 09 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Zé Gomes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filipe Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Marco 09, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Benfica keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Danilo Lucas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marco 09 asked and Amora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad27 Jun 2033
Words at Marco 09 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filipe Gonçalves is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Marco 09, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Marco 09 is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tondela have kept their man, and Marco 09 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Laurantino Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Marco 09 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Marco 09, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Rebelo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad30 May 2033
Words at Marco 09 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Waine is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Marco 09, another week without a signature from David Rebelo.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Marco 09 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Marco 09, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marco 09 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2033
Words at Marco 09 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Laurantino Mendes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Zé Gomes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Marco 09, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Marco 09 has been clear about where Stian Odegaard stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Marco 09 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Dec 2032
Words at Marco 09 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filipe Gonçalves is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 1‑0 win over Académico de Viseu, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Louis Maurice was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Fabio Ribeiro is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Marco 09 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Marco 09 have done the hard part with Estrela da Amadora, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marco 09 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Marco 09 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Marco 09 this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Marco 09, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadWords at Marco 09 training over how hard people work
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Marco 09 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Waine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marco 09 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Words at Marco 09 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enzo Vagner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
Position 6, 21 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.