Marked for Ignacio Rubio
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 Apr 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Córdoba
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market19 Apr 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Córdoba may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Words exchanged at Córdoba
Diego Bri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Dalisson falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Match17 Apr 2032
Rayo Vallecano left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liam Lindsay, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
A promise honoured at Córdoba
Something was said to Gabriel Morales and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Córdoba
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Córdoba is running low.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Jan 2032
A falling-out at Córdoba
Diego Bri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Dalisson falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Match24 Jan 2032
Three points for Córdoba, 2‑0 the final word against Gijón in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings26 Jan 2032
Diego Bri ran the middle of the pitch — 7.54
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.54, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Market26 Jan 2032
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gabriel Morales has his answer from Córdoba; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Getting past Guilherme Fernandes has become the hardest job in the division
8 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Dec 2031
Pressure builds in the Córdoba boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Abdelkabir Abqar 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.
Squad1 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Córdoba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Nov 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diego Percan. 1‑0 against Getafe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
Marked 7.96. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom1 Dec 2031
Córdoba counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Córdoba now.
Market1 Dec 2031
Ignacio Rubio is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Córdoba has been clear about where Ignacio Rubio stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Sep 2031
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Guilherme Fernandes: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match17 Sep 2031
Córdoba bow out of the cup
Alavés go through and Córdoba go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market22 Sep 2031
“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 Córdoba, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market22 Sep 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Córdoba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match20 Sep 2031
No end in sight to Córdoba's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Córdoba has to find a result from somewhere.
Market22 Sep 2031
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Córdoba heard it as anything else.
Squad22 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Córdoba
Abdelkabir Abqar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Dalisson falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Francisco Décima
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Córdoba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Córdoba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Jul 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Abdelkabir Abqar 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Reece Greenhalgh is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo La Coruña have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Wages swallow 104% of the Córdoba income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Córdoba sign 7 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
Ignacio Rubio knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Córdoba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 May 2031
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Córdoba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 May 2031
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Córdoba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 May 2031
22 goals and a season average of 7.36. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market19 May 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Córdoba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 May 2031
Words exchanged at Córdoba
Abdelkabir Abqar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces19 May 2031
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match17 May 2031
Three points for Córdoba, 1‑0 the final word against Alavés in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 May 2031
Dalisson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout19 May 2031
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.