Marked for Daniel González
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 May 2029
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Ricardo Peña clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Betis have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Boardroom7 May 2029
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Market7 May 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Betis heard it as anything else.
Squad7 May 2029
The medical room confirms 20 days on the sidelines for Daniel González, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad7 May 2029
Tempers go at Betis
Aleix Febas 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Ricardo Peña leaves with $55.7K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
The dugout7 May 2029
A promise honoured for Isco
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Betis told Isco something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout7 May 2029
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Georges Mikautadze has taken the hint, and Betis are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Betis can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aitor Ruibal and Betis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Betis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Seydouba Cissé has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Betis is pretending otherwise.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ander Astralaga, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Apr 2029
The medical room confirms 53 days on the sidelines for Daniel González, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match7 Apr 2029
Betis come up short against Alavés
Alavés left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ricardo Peña after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces21 Aug 2028
Supporters organise against the Betis board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Fer Niño scores twice — 8.29
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“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.
Market21 Aug 2028
The name of Iker Losada has come up in conversations Betis were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
6 academy graduates step up at Betis
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad21 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Betis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
The manager makes an example of Ander Astralaga
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market21 Aug 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Enzo Parra has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.