“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Córdoba hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isma Ruiz 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Córdoba can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marked 8.39. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Córdoba.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Daniel Ramírez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutNélson Monte asks for a word with the manager
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Córdoba and Deportivo La Coruña, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Deportivo La Coruña left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Isma Ruiz 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.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Beaten 4 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franck Fomeyem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
10 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 dugout15 Feb 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Daniel Ramírez to a room that had heard them before.
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 Juan Gutiérrez is on it.
Deportivo La Coruña arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Córdoba have gone to Albacete 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.
The phone has started ringing about Enol Rodríguez again, and this time the name on the line is Eldense. Córdoba are listening politely and promising nothing.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franck Fomeyem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Daniel Ramírez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Carlos Abad is a Córdoba player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isma Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 12, 28 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
7 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 is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Córdoba are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Nélson Monte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isma Ruiz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isma Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniel Ramírez to a room that had heard them before.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Córdoba told Diego Percan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Chances created: 7. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Mariano Carmona’s exile
Out, 1‑3 to Atlético Madrid, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
0‑3 against Racing Santander, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Córdoba are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Trilli
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Nélson Monte
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Isma Ruiz 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.
Zaragoza left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 Daniel Ramírez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Yussi Diarra 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.
Marked 7.94 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Córdoba had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.” Daniel Ramírez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Kevin Medina is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dani Tasende’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Córdoba needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Isma Ruiz 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.
Nobody at Córdoba 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daniel Ramírez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Córdoba told Kevin Medina something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Málaga in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Isma Ruiz 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Córdoba 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Leganés in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Córdoba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Córdoba. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
They sit in position 17 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isma Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
In brief
The dugoutNélson Monte knocks on the manager’s door
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Iker Álvarez
Isma Ruiz 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Bri, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 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.” Daniel Ramírez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Deportivo La Coruña.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Nélson Monte 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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Isma Ruiz’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Córdoba needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Christian Carracedo has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Córdoba know, and have known for weeks.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isma Ruiz 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Yussi Diarra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Valladolid scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isma Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Daniel Ramírez could afford to be generous.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Nélson Monte
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isma Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Córdoba, another week without a signature from Carlos Albarrán.
Still no offer on the table, and Iker Álvarez’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ayoub Akabou is in the works