“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 The request is on a desk at Kifisia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Johnson Eboh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $40.0K — a club that wants Guilherme Zimovski enough to be asked twice.
Kifisia have gone to Egaleo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Konstantinos Apostolakis 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“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 The request is on a desk at Kifisia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with AEK is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Apostolos Tsilingiris 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.
Kifisia asked and Panathinaikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
Kifisia have made the call to Panathinaikos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 Kifisia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from Hapoel Kfar Saba for Eli Revivo 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kifisia have done the hard part with Egaleo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atromitos have kept their man, and Kifisia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kifisia has been clear about where Apostolos Tsilingiris stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
SquadWords at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 May 2028
Aleks Petkov 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 Kifisia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 May 2028
Gerson Sousa 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.
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Kifisia no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Apostolos Tsilingiris trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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 Kifisia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 appearances at Niki Volos and the goals have stopped going in. Kifisia lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Kifisia 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.
“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 Kifisia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Johnson Eboh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tiago Manso 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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 year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Kifisia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lazare Amani signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
David Simón 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 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.
8 clean sheets from 14 appearances at Niki Volos. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Nélson Campali's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody at Kifisia 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.
146 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Niki Volos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bruno Onyemaechi 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Oliver Klimpl has, at Niki Volos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Niki Volos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yannick Semedo 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Niki Volos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Niki Volos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Kifisia, 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.” Kifisia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kifisia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia 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 Konstantinos Apostolakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lazare Amani signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
In brief
The dugoutRubén Pérez knocks on the manager's door
Lazare Amani 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Aleks Petkov 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kifisia told Konstantinos Apostolakis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
8 shut-outs in 14 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Apostolos Tsilingiris has been having a lot of them.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Nélson Campali's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Aleks Petkov 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Vítek Kořenek 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Niki Volos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Víctor Villacañas 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Niki Volos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yannick Semedo 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Niki Volos are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Yannick Semedo 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Niki Volos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
5 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Apostolos Tsilingiris trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Niki Volos 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Niki Volos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Apostolos Tsilingiris 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Niki Volos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yannick Semedo 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.
Niki Volos asked and Atromitos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Niki Volos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Niki Volos 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Niki Volos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Bruno Onyemaechi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Niki Volos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yannick Semedo 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.
Niki Volos asked and PAOK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑1 to Kampaniakos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Panagiotis Donis left the room before anybody could ask which.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Vicente Valor will call it something else in private.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Petros Giakoumakis has his answer from Niki Volos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
BoardroomThe numbers do not look good at Niki Volos
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Rubén Pérez 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.43 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lazare Amani 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 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Spyridon Galanopoulos kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Gerson Sousa's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tobías Quinteros provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
1 for Giannis Masouras, marked 7.28, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Alexandros Lolis 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.
6 goals in one match, Tobías Quinteros on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Niki Volos and Asteras Tripolis B.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yannick Semedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Theodoridis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Đorđe Glavinić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Olympiacos next, and one man in the Kifisia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
0‑2 to Atromitos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Spyridon Galanopoulos to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kifisia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Panathinaikos next, and one man in the Kifisia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Niki Volos 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 Yannick Semedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Niki Volos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
PAS Giannina next, and one man in the Niki Volos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of 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 Niki Volos, 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 Niki Volos 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 Matic Zavnik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Panagiotis Donis on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
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.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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 Petros Giakoumakis is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Panserraikos in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Niki Volos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Franco Shea was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.53. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thanasis Garavelis and Niki Volos agree another 2 years.
Makedonikos will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Juan José Álvarez has pre-agreed a move to Niki Volos, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Asteras Tripolis B will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Niki Volos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
1 for Yannick Semedo, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Bruno Onyemaechi 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.
Chania will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Luka Vodušek has pre-agreed a move to Niki Volos, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
He is 22 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Niki Volos know it, and so does everybody who watches 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 Niki Volos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Niki Volos have gone to OFI with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Víctor Villacañas 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.
Niki Volos asked and Villa Dálmine said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vicente Valor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yannick Semedo signs something — a contract at Niki Volos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ilioupoli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Panserraikos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Panserraikos and Ilioupoli have settled on $22.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Lucas Freitas 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kifisia have kept their man, and Panserraikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ethan Brooks 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Niki Volos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Niki Volos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Niki Volos had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at OFI, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Niki Volos asked and OFI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yannick Semedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kavala waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Hapoel Kfar Saba for Eli Revivo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kifisia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Niki Volos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Niki Volos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Niki Volos can pretend not to have heard.
Alexandros Tzamalis 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.
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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kifisia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Independiente keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The name of Apostolos Tsilingiris has come up in conversations Kifisia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kifisia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Vasilis Xenopoulos is a Kifisia player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kifisia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
David Simón 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.
Add another name to the list: Panserraikos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Apostolos Tsilingiris. The answer from Kifisia has not changed — yet.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ilioupoli will make the call about Johnson Eboh this week. Kifisia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 May 2027
Aleks Petkov 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kifisia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Kifisia 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aleks Petkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jorge Pombo signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Rubén Pérez is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kifisia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Kifisia, 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.” Kifisia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Kifisia 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.
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Petkov 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kifisia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Marko for Apostolos Tsilingiris 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Giorgos Konstantakopoulos 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.
Kifisia have made the call to Levadiakos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Kifisia have made the call to Athens Kallithea. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Eli Revivo is 16, and Kifisia have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kifisia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Add another name to the list: Marko have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Apostolos Tsilingiris. The answer from Kifisia has not changed — yet.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kifisia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Kifisia have made the call to Gornik Zabrze. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kifisia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Simón 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Panserraikos next, and one man in the Kifisia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Kifisia 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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Kifisia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kifisia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kifisia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Kifisia had all but put away. OFI will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.