Words at AEZ Zakakiou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Jovović 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEZ Zakakiou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against ASIL Lysi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AEZ Zakakiou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Konstantinos Makridis has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutManolis Liakos asks for a word with the manager
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Anthony Scully was at the centre of it, Chalkanoras Idaliou were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anthony Scully provided it, and the 8.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Jovović 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Words at AEZ Zakakiou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Golubović 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.
Andreas Lemesios 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Michalis Soteriou chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Nea Salamis? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nobody at AEZ Zakakiou is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dennis Bakke Gaustad has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Andreas Lemesios 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.69, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AEZ Zakakiou told Giorgos Naoum something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEZ Zakakiou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Marko Jovović 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AEZ Zakakiou, another week without a signature from Francisco Ferreira.
Vasil Shkurtaj 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Karmiotissa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
MEAP Nisou go through and AEZ Zakakiou go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francisco Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
APEA Akrotiri next, and one man in the AEZ Zakakiou dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Michail Andreas Odysseos had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at AEZ Zakakiou until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Subotica have kept their man, and AEZ Zakakiou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at AEZ Zakakiou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shadrach Ogie 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AEZ Zakakiou, another week without a signature from Stefan Golubović.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Vasil Shkurtaj is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Giorgos Naoum has moved up it.
“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 AEZ Zakakiou, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEZ Zakakiou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Marko Jovović 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.
AEZ Zakakiou asked and Smederevo 1924 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
AEZ Zakakiou have made the call to Dynamo Kyiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against MEAP Nisou in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Vasil Shkurtaj 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panionios have kept their man, and AEZ Zakakiou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Labros Michail Konstanti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AEZ Zakakiou have made the call to Pafos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and AEZ Zakakiou 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 offer went to Wrexham this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Ruffels 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.
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.