Marked for Mathias Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom16 Jan 2034
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Marcílio Dias is running low.
The terraces16 Jan 2034
Anger at Marcílio Dias spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market16 Jan 2034
“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.
Squad16 Jan 2034
Macarrão 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.
Transfer targets16 Jan 2034
Marcílio Dias asked and Boavista said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Jan 2034
Words at Marcílio Dias training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Ribeiro 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.
Market16 Jan 2034
The Cauã Godoy talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Marcílio Dias know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout16 Jan 2034
Marcos Neves gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marcos Neves is on it.
Market16 Jan 2034
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Marcílio Dias could get for him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom19 Dec 2033
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Marcílio Dias is running low.
The terraces19 Dec 2033
Anger at Marcílio Dias spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market19 Dec 2033
“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.
Transfer targets19 Dec 2033
Everything agreed with Novorizontino, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets19 Dec 2033
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.
Squad19 Dec 2033
Paim 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.
Squad19 Dec 2033
Sergio Ribeiro 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 dugout19 Dec 2033
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sandro Lobjanidze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market19 Dec 2033
The Cauã Godoy talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Marcílio Dias know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout10 Oct 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Marcílio Dias may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 Oct 2033
Macarrão and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom10 Oct 2033
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.
Squad10 Oct 2033
6 new faces, and Marcílio Dias are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout10 Oct 2033
Fábio Moura gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Fábio Moura is on it.
Market10 Oct 2033
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad10 Oct 2033
A Marcílio Dias teenager takes the young player award
Ilusionista is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Looking ahead10 Oct 2033
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Cauã Godoy’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Marcílio Dias needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market10 Oct 2033
The Cauã Godoy story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cauã Godoy signs something — a contract at Marcílio Dias or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.