Marked for Andrei Ivan
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Panserraikos board
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
11 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panserraikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match23 Jan 2027
1‑4 to Aris Thessaloniki, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giannis Pasas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match16 Jan 2027
10 matches without a win for Panserraikos
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Panserraikos are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Jan 2027
Giannis Pasas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panserraikos can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Panserraikos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: NK Domzale keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giannis Pasas 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Panserraikos asked and Legia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match2 Jan 2027
Chastening afternoon for Panserraikos
A 2‑7 beating by Panathinaikos was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Panserraikos
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Panserraikos is running low.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match2 Jan 2027
8 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Stéphane Omeonga: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panserraikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with CSKA Moscow 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Dec 2026
Giannis Pasas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panserraikos can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win for Panserraikos
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Panserraikos are no longer polite ones.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Yoël Armougom: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panserraikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Vernon de Marco 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 Dec 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giannis Pasas 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Asteras left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Charly Dutournier, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Panserraikos told Charis Iliadis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panserraikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad7 Dec 2026
21 days out for Yoël Armougom after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panserraikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Dec 2026
“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.
Match5 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Panserraikos
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Panserraikos are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Vernon de Marco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giannis Pasas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Andrei Ivan at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Panserraikos.
Looking ahead7 Dec 2026
Volos NPS next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stéphane Omeonga
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panserraikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Nov 2026
55 days out for Yoël Armougom after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Panserraikos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Nov 2026
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Atromitos were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Vernon de Marco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giannis Pasas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for Panserraikos, 1‑0 the final word against Atromitos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Andrei Ivan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marc Nierga, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
5 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
4 matches without a goal for Panserraikos
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Giannis Pasas 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Martínez 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Teixeira, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 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 0‑2 Theodoros Lampropoulos left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Panserraikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Giannis Pasas 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alberto Delgado 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Both jobs done by Din Sula — 6.80
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.80, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Andrei Ivan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Panserraikos.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Miguelito
“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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 27 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Panserraikos 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Giannis Pasas 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nicolás Martínez 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Andrei Ivan beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout7 Sep 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 Theodoros Lampropoulos to a room that had heard them before.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Paschalis Staikos is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Panserraikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Vernon de Marco 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Panserraikos 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
OFI left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Alberto Delgado 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Panserraikos are still strangers to each other
19 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Theodoros Lampropoulos after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Panserraikos turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.