Marked for Mathijs Tielemans
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Aug 2031
Jack Howland breaks a bone — 84 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Aug 2031
“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.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Steeve Yago: 9 seasons and counting
408 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Aris know exactly what they have.
Squad4 Aug 2031
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Aris
Gédéon Kalulu 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 dugout4 Aug 2031
“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.
Market4 Aug 2031
Add another name to the list: Urartu have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nikos Demetriou. The answer from Aris has not changed — yet.
Market4 Aug 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jul 2031
A fracture rules Jack Howland out for 95 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Jul 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Aris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Aris
Antoine Colassin 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Josué Colmán has improved at 33, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
Aris asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Jul 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Marin Kuzmanić has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Aris.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Žak Grabljevec, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jul 2031
102 days out for Jack Howland after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match21 Jul 2031
Aris refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 55 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market21 Jul 2031
“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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Tempers go at Aris
Antoine Colassin 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 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Aris
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ross McCausland was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Ivan Serediuk has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
No hiding place for Joe Lewis
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joe Lewis, and the manager let it.
Market21 Jul 2031
Charalambos Kastanos is 19, and Aris 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 dugout21 Jul 2031
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jul 2031
A fracture rules Jack Howland out for 117 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Jul 2031
“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 Aris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ludogorets keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Jul 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Antoine Colassin and Aris agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Ross McCausland 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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Paralimni will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Paul Milde has pre-agreed a move to Aris, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
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.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Mar 2031
Only the photograph left for Ion Gheorghe
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ion Gheorghe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
“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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Tempers go at Aris
Antoine Colassin 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Alex Matos 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
The formation has left Josué Colmán behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Aris will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Mar 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Aris, another week without a signature from Mathijs Tielemans.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
The manager makes an example of Kyriakos Loizou
“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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Aris has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
In brief
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Market
The clock does Ro Abajas’s negotiating for him
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Boardroom
Aris keep producing them
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Afonso Busatori
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Dec 2029
Alexander Lyng 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Aalborg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edison Flores was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market24 Dec 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mathijs Tielemans has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Aalborg.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
The manager makes an example of Mikael Uhre
“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 dugout24 Dec 2029
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market24 Dec 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aalborg know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
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Match
Continental football is in reach for Aalborg
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Boardroom
Aalborg keep producing them
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Squad
Mikael Uhre is training like a man with a point to make
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Nov 2029
0‑5. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Squad3 Dec 2029
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.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Mikael Uhre, 35, rolls back the years — 8.38
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.38 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daníel Leó Grétarsson and Aalborg agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Aalborg
Alexander Lyng 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Aalborg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edison Flores was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces3 Dec 2029
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match1 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mikael Uhre. 2‑0 against FC Midtjylland, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathijs Tielemans, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Oct 2029
No end in sight to Aalborg's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aalborg has to find a result from somewhere.
Match24 Oct 2029
Aalborg come up short in Europe
0‑1 away to the standard of Lillestrom. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Aalborg
Bertil Grønkjær 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Aalborg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daníel Leó Grétarsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Oct 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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 0‑2 the manager left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
The team sheet said everything about Mikael Uhre
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Mikael Uhre.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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 dugout29 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to James Bogere, and the manager let it.