The Botafogo-SP Courier
Market11 Feb 2030
Fernando Victor puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Botafogo-SP, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
Botafogo-SP to lose Giovanni Marques for free
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Giovanni Marques has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Botafogo-SP
Leandro 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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Daniel di Pauli stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel di Pauli and Botafogo-SP agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Feb 2030
A row about effort at Botafogo-SP
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Brey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Botafogo-SP count the cost of losing Éder Rocha
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
Rafael Castro has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Botafogo-SP will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
Gabriel Inocêncio knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriel Inocêncio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Feb 2030
The Leandro Maciel story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leandro Maciel signs something — a contract at Botafogo-SP or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
- Market Botafogo-SP put Geovane Meurer up for sale
- Market Daniel di Pauli joins Botafogo-SP on a free
- The dugout Iván Córdoba keeps his manager's vote