21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Córdoba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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 Nikolay Obolskiy is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrian Leon Barišić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to Las Palmas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
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 Enrique Jiménez to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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.
Vladyslav Kopotun 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 ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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.” Enrique Jiménez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Córdoba asked and Vitoria Guimaraes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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 Nikolay Obolskiy is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salim El Jebari trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Eldense had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
0‑3 against Real Sociedad B, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 Córdoba, and it is not being withdrawn.
$690.0K on the table at Tarazona. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Córdoba have gone to Albacete with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Salim El Jebari 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 Juan Gutiérrez 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. Girona have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Mérida 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.
Juan Gutiérrez 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.
Albacete wanted more than $320.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Leon Barišić 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Córdoba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Córdoba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Córdoba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Mallorca next, and one man in the Córdoba dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Córdoba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Córdoba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Leon Barišić 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.
Nikolay Obolskiy 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.
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 Iván Fernández has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Córdoba the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Córdoba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrian Leon Barišić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jan Salas has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Córdoba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrian Leon Barišić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Córdoba 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 Córdoba, 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 Nikolay Obolskiy is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Gutiérrez signs something — a contract at Córdoba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shanghai Port is saying, and nobody at Córdoba is enjoying the guessing.
Córdoba asked and Juventud Torremolinos 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Córdoba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Córdoba are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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 Alves is on it.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Córdoba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Córdoba, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Córdoba people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal with Barakaldo 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 fee is $670.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Alcorcón drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Christos Prevezianos has agreed terms with Teruel for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
$660.0K was the most the club would pay and Tarazona 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Córdoba people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Alcorcón 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.
Córdoba have gone to Tarazona with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $821.8K — a club that wants Vladyslav Kopotun enough to be asked twice.
$510.0K was the most the club would pay and Arenas Club 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alcorcón have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$1.3M was the most the club would pay and Girona 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.
The deal with Boca Juniors 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.
$550.0K on the table at Alcorcón. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Córdoba asked and Cultural Leonesa 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 name of Mariano Carmona has come up in conversations Córdoba were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and Córdoba are still learning each other
“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 Córdoba, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 70 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Córdoba have gone to Betis 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.
$4.2M on the table at Zaragoza. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
4 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. André Martínez has just signed for Córdoba, and for once the answer mattered.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Theo. 2‑0 against Huesca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 ratings29 May 2028
Theo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
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. 10 actions, 7.34, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
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.
Three points for Córdoba, 1‑0 the final word against Málaga in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Theo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
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 Córdoba prefer.
David Rabadán 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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.” Enrique Jiménez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Jordi Alba 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 Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nikolay Obolskiy will call it something else in private.
It needed Nicolas Pépé to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Cartagena, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Enrique Jiménez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Córdoba can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
6 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
Córdoba had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at River Plate, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Jordi Alba 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.
100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
Three points for Córdoba, 1‑0 the final word against Zaragoza in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Nicolas Pépé was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Christos Prevezianos 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Córdoba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mariano Carmona'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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Gutiérrez signs something — a contract at Córdoba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Córdoba has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“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 Córdoba, 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 Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
Something was said to Nicolas Pépé and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
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.
Álex Martín 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.
Something was said to Diego Percan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Enrique Jiménez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Víctor Sánchez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Córdoba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
8 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Guilherme Fernandes knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Enrique Jiménez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Christos Prevezianos 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Córdoba have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
Córdoba had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Boca Juniors, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
Córdoba asked and Betis 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Boca Juniors keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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. Betis have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Córdoba know which stage they are at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olimpia is saying, and nobody at Córdoba is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpia have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolay Obolskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
Ramón Vilà’s loan is measured in nothing happening
11 clean sheets from 24 appearances at Eldense. 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.
Something was said to Theo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Córdoba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.