What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Porto Velho can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Piero Carhuas 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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Amorim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Ramom is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto Velho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrygo Viana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Porto Velho, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Júnior Silva is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Grêmio is saying, and nobody at Porto Velho is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto Velho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Horizonte have kept their man, and Porto Velho go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Rodrygo Viana 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Douglas Fonseca after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Douglas Fonseca has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Ramom 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 Rodrigo Amorim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bruno Correia has his answer from Porto Velho; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Nobody arrives at Porto Velho until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Porto Velho 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 Porto Velho, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Correia without the man who signed him
“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 Porto Velho, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Porto Velho have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto Velho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Diego Cerón 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto Velho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑3 to Ceilândia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Diego Cerón 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Júnior Silva has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Ceilândia held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Porto Velho answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.