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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Kifisia, and it is not being withdrawn.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
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kifisia can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 Mar 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
Kifisia asked and AEL Larisa 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 Konstantinos Apostolakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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.
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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kifisia, and 10 appearances in 35 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lanús is saying, and nobody at Kifisia is enjoying the guessing.
$79.0K was the most the club would pay and Panserraikos 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.
Kifisia asked and AEL Larisa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad17 Jan 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Kifisia scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kifisia have done the hard part with Lanús, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 gone to Panserraikos 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.
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.
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 terraces13 Dec 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.96, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Kifisia and Levadiakos, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.87 for the rest of it.
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.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kifisia, and 7 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout6 Dec 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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Volos NPS made Kifisia work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
In brief
The dugoutJohnson Eboh is still being punished for one mistake
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 Aleks Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Kifisia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Niki Volos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nélson Campali has his answer from Kifisia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Kifisia asked and Talleres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Platense have kept their man, and Kifisia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“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.
Squad23 Aug 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.
Kifisia have made the call to CSKA Sofia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kifisia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
The offer from Perugia for Andrea Caleffi 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 Independiente, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Estudiantes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Nikodem Skupin 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 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 Gerson Sousa is on it.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Christos Ligdas is living that version at Kifisia, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer went to OFI 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.
“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 Kifisia know it.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Christos Ligdas is a Kifisia player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ché Nunnely 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.
Kifisia asked and Ilioupoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Squad31 May 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and David Simón has written the date down.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Kifisia have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
In brief
The dugoutGerson Sousa knocks on the manager's door
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.
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.
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.
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.
Squad19 Apr 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.
“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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kifisia 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.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandros Anagnostopoulos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Gerson Sousa is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tiago Manso signs something — a contract at Kifisia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Johnson Eboh 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Konstantinos Apostolakis has moved up it.
0‑3 to Olympiacos, 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.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad8 Mar 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.
9 combined actions and 7.00. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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.
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.
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.
The dugout22 Feb 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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Gerson Sousa
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.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kifisia can tell you which week it ends in.
The phone has started ringing about Johnson Eboh again, and this time the name on the line is Kampaniakos. Kifisia are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kifisia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Kifisia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Jan 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kifisia can pretend not to have heard.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kifisia can tell you which week it ends in.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Something was said to Johnson Eboh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Moisés Ramírez has gone, the accounts have $3.7M 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.
Universidad Catolica paid $3.7M and Kifisia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andrea Caleffi is living that version at Kifisia, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
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.
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.
Position 7, 21 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Spyridon Galanopoulos after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Simón trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Tiago Manso 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Imam Jagne. 2‑1 against Asteras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Kifisia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than David Simón
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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Kifisia prefer.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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 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.
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.
Marked 8.39 — 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Apostolis Christopoulos, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Spyridon Galanopoulos, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
At 28 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Kifisia have a decision that made itself.
Kifisia asked and Independiente 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 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 0‑3 Spyridon Galanopoulos left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benny trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than David Simón
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.