Marked for Daniel Rojas
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Oct 2035
25 days out for Sergio Miranda after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Albion will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Tempers go at Albion
Daniel Rojas 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 Oct 2035
Words at Albion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Fernández 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.
Boardroom1 Oct 2035
Albion are $24.9M in the red
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.
The dugout1 Oct 2035
Sebastián Jaume loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Sebastián Jaume's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout1 Oct 2035
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Franco Ghirardi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market1 Oct 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastián Jaume signs something — a contract at Albion or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market1 Oct 2035
“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.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Nerves in the Albion squad
Sebastián Jaume has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Aug 2035
Full time on the season at Albion
Position 11 on 30 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The dugout13 Aug 2035
“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.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Everybody at Albion saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad13 Aug 2035
A falling-out at Albion
Daniel Rojas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match11 Aug 2035
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Aug 2035
“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.
Boardroom13 Aug 2035
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Albion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Fernández 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 dugout13 Aug 2035
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jun 2034
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rayo Zuliano waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tigre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad26 Jun 2034
A fracture rules Daniel Rojas out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tigre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Jun 2034
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Quimey Zarza had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market26 Jun 2034
Tigre say no — this time
The offer from Real Frontera for Ronald Rodríguez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad26 Jun 2034
Tempers go at Tigre
Gonzalo Petit 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.
Squad26 Jun 2034
Cauan Barros 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.
Market26 Jun 2034
The name of Bruno Méndez has come up in conversations Tigre were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom26 Jun 2034
The paperwork is done long before the player is. David Đurić has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Tigre have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2034
Tigre asked and Newell's Old Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jun 2034
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tigre people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Jun 2034
Tigre say no — this time
The offer from Aldosivi for Ramiro Hernandes was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad19 Jun 2034
A fracture rules Daniel Rojas out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tigre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout19 Jun 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tigre may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Words exchanged at Tigre
Gonzalo Petit 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.
Market19 Jun 2034
Business is business: Enzo Aguirre goes
San Lorenzo paid $700.0K and Tigre took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jun 2034
A row about effort at Tigre
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cauan Barros was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2034
Tigre asked and Argentinos Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market19 Jun 2034
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Tigre have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
In brief
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Squad
8 new faces, and Tigre are still learning each other
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The dugout
Santiago González has become a man the manager trusts
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Boardroom
Tigre bank $360.0K from an old deal
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Jun 2034
Tigre march on in the cup
Atlético Tucumán are out and Tigre go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings12 Jun 2034
A debut Pedro Ruiz will not forget — 7.57
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.57 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Market12 Jun 2034
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vélez waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tigre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Daniel Rojas breaks a bone — 46 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Jun 2034
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Vélez had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market12 Jun 2034
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market12 Jun 2034
“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 Tigre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jun 2034
A falling-out at Tigre
Gonzalo Petit and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2034
Tigre asked and San Lorenzo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.