Joca 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keidi Bare 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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Volos NPS could ask drops and the wages André Ribeiro can ask rise.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
The mood at Volos NPS has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now 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 The request is on a desk at Volos NPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diego Esteban 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Volos NPS would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Volos NPS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Thanasis Papanikolaou has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volos NPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keidi Bare 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Stefan Mladenovski is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Volos NPS would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdullah Al-Shanqiti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at Volos NPS has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza Mendyl 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Volos NPS know it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Volos NPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Volos NPS would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Volos NPS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Joca 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keidi Bare 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 Volos NPS are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jota trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Diego Esteban and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza Mendyl 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Stefan Mladenovski is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Keidi Bare 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.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Panagiotis Mandalos leaves with $43.2K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Thanasis Papanikolaou to a room that had heard them before.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Keidi Bare has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Volos NPS are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
“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 Volos NPS, 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 Volos NPS 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 Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Volos NPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Panagiotis Mandalos after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Volos NPS people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Kampaniakos had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Volos NPS asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
PAOK held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Volos NPS answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The mood at Volos NPS has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now 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 Volos NPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Christos Belevonis has come up in conversations Volos NPS were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keidi Bare 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Volos NPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“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 Volos NPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diego Esteban 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keidi Bare 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Volos NPS know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Nobody at Volos NPS 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 Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Volos NPS are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Volos NPS 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.
Milán Tóth had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Panserraikos were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Joca 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Volos NPS can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marked 8.92 — 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Joca 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 Nov 2027
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keidi Bare 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 easiest signature of my career.” Lefteris Tasiouras and Volos NPS agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Volos NPS, another week without a signature from Jota.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Keidi Bare 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Panagiotis Mandalos after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Chances created: 6. 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Volos NPS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Keidi Bare 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.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Volos NPS have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikos Grammatikakis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Volos NPS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volos NPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Keidi Bare 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The offer went to Wisla Krakow 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Volos NPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Something was said to Hamza Mendyl and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Volos NPS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $100.1K — a club that wants Hakim Sahabo enough to be asked twice.
The fee is $440.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. AEL Larisa drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Volos NPS asked and KAA Gent 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 phone has started ringing about Nikos Grammatikakis again, and this time the name on the line is Marko. Volos NPS are listening politely and promising nothing.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Volos NPS are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The chase for Diego Esteban ended with $1.7M changing hands and Panetolikos out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The deal with AEL Larisa 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.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
Volos NPS spend $1.7M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.7M for Diego Esteban, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volos NPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Volos NPS will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Volos NPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nikos Grammatikakis had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The fee is $570.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Panetolikos drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hamza Mendyl 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volos NPS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Hatim Es-Saouabi is on it.
Not every move is upward. Adriano Bregu has accepted terms at Volos NPS that are worse than the ones he left, and the only question that matters now is whether the football makes up for it.
Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel has gone, the accounts have $3.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Panathinaikos paid $3.2M and Volos NPS took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Santos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CFR Cluj have kept their man, and Volos NPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volos NPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Martínez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volos NPS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Volos NPS can pretend not to have heard.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Volos NPS will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad24 May 2027
Yvan Neyou 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.
Hamza Mendyl 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Volos NPS told Jota something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pedro Álvaro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Yvan Neyou 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.
Hamza Mendyl 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volos NPS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Hamza Mendyl 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.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Volos NPS will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Jan Hurtado was one of the reasons people came, and $11.8M does not replace that by itself.
“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 Volos NPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keidi Bare 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.
7.71, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volos NPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Panagiotis Mandalos on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Volos NPS and Panetolikos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gustavo Santos. 4‑2 against Panetolikos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Gustavo Santos was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.54. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volos NPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.28. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Volos NPS.
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.” Panagiotis Mandalos kept it short after the 4‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Something was said to Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keidi Bare 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 Volos NPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Volos NPS game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ethnikos Achnas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Volos NPS will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody at Volos NPS 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Volos NPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Panetolikos next, and one man in the Volos NPS dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keidi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout26 Oct 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 Panagiotis Mandalos to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Núrio
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keidi Bare 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 Volos NPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Nobody at Volos NPS 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volos NPS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $133.5K — a club that wants Giannis Christopoulos enough to be asked twice.
Volos NPS have gone to Panathinaikos 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.
Volos NPS offered $130.0K; OFI said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Theodoros Mitroglou has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
9 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.
The dugout31 Aug 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 1‑2 Panagiotis Mandalos left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
BoardroomVolos NPS turn down the training-ground plan
The offer from Pacos de Ferreira for Joca 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.
$6.3M on the table at DAC Dunajska Streda. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$2.9M was the most the club would pay and Panathinaikos were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at PAOK is saying, and nobody at Volos NPS is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Keidi Bare 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Volos NPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Núrio 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.