33 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.
Position 8 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samir Ben Sallam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panserraikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Iva Gelashvili 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.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samir Ben Sallam 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Panserraikos told Tibério Cunha something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Hélder Suker has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
PAS Giannina next, and one man in the Panserraikos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Maxence Metayer is on it.
A brace, and Hélder Suker takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hélder Suker provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Jorge Silva 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Marković 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Makedonikos were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
Tibério Cunha was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.
Makedonikos held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Panserraikos answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panserraikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samir Ben Sallam 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 Panserraikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PAS Giannina waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Panserraikos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Stavros Ioannou is a Panserraikos player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Jorge Silva 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Panserraikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Panserraikos will try again when the window opens; Kifisia may not be selling by then.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panserraikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Panserraikos close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Panserraikos have done the hard part with Kifisia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $78.2K — a club that wants Petar Banović enough to be asked twice.
Jorge Silva 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 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panserraikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Panserraikos have done the hard part with Nestos Chrysoupoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Panserraikos had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Iraklis, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Marković 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 Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Panserraikos asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Yusuf Taiye 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.
Panserraikos have made the call to Chania. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Panserraikos has been clear about where Tibério Cunha stands, which is more than many ever get.
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Taiye 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.
Jorge Silva 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.
“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 Panserraikos know it.
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 Dimitris Potouridis is on it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lazar Marković and Panserraikos agree another 2 years.
Everybody at Panserraikos saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal 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.
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Panserraikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Jorge Silva 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dimitris Potouridis, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Adel Sebihi'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.
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.
Jorge Silva 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 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.
Panserraikos asked and Panathinaikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everybody at Panserraikos saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
28 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Jorge Silva 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.
Panserraikos asked and Levadiakos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Yusuf Taiye 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 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 Dimitris Potouridis is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panserraikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 4, 28 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 9.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Panserraikos had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Jorge Silva 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Taiye 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 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.
Jorge Silva 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 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ilias Karargyris 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 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 Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Taiye 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.
At 37, 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.
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.
14 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
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.
“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.
Jorge Silva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Marković 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.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rayan Al-Mousa and Panserraikos agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
16 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.
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.
Iva Gelashvili 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 Lazar Marković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 2, 14 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout5 Nov 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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Jorge Silva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Marković 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Simos Papadopoulos has his answer from Panserraikos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Panserraikos has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nobody at Panserraikos 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iva Gelashvili signs something — a contract at Panserraikos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panserraikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusuf Taiye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jorge Silva 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Panserraikos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panserraikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer went to PAOK 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.
The deal with Levadiakos 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.
Panserraikos have gone to Volos NPS 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.
Panserraikos asked and Kifisia 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 Giorgos Marinos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panserraikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Iva Gelashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Marinos 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 Panserraikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yusuf Taiye signs something — a contract at Panserraikos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Grigoris Politakis may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panserraikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andreas Athanasiou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Panserraikos game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Makedonikos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vernon de Marco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panserraikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panserraikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Joris Delle 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 Andreas Athanasiou 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 Panserraikos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Panserraikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yusuf Taiye signs something — a contract at Panserraikos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Tibério Cunha’s negotiating for him