Marked for Iván Ortigoza
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jul 2028
Praxitelis Vouros damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Giorgos Maidanos out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilioupoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Jul 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Ilioupoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Jul 2028
56 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The deal with OFI 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Ilioupoli asked and Panetolikos 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 dugout31 Jul 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Praxitelis Vouros'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.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to OFI: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jul 2028
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ilioupoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Jul 2028
Every point is an argument now for Ilioupoli
Position 9 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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The deal with Atromitos 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Angelos Tsingaras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levadiakos have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
114% of the income goes out in wages at Ilioupoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
OFI have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jul 2028
Praxitelis Vouros damages knee ligaments — 128 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
The numbers do not look good at Ilioupoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to OFI: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Ilioupoli are still strangers to each other
5 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.
Market10 Jul 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ilioupoli has been clear about where Vangelis Keramidas stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
The new man at Ilioupoli has worked with Giorgos Kyriopoulos before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jul 2028
91 days out for Giorgos Maidanos after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ilioupoli can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The Ilioupoli board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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 Ilioupoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AEZ Zakakiou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ilioupoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
The deal with Panathinaikos 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Angelos Tsingaras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Ilioupoli asked and Panetolikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Giorgos Maidanos out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilioupoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Jun 2028
Every point is an argument now for Ilioupoli
Position 9 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Angelos Tsingaras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Athens Kallithea have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
114% of the income goes out in wages at Ilioupoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
A loan move for Bilal Fofana is in the works
Ilioupoli have made the call to Panetolikos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market26 Jun 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Banfa Diakité signs something — a contract at Ilioupoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Duccio Vanni gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Jun 2028
The mood at Ilioupoli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ilioupoli
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Judah Garcia breaks a bone — 28 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market19 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Digenis Morfou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ilioupoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The deal with Atromitos 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panetolikos have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Maidanos 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 dugout19 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Markos Nino
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2028
35 days out for Judah Garcia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ilioupoli have done the hard part with Atromitos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dimos Papakonstantinou has, at Ilioupoli, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
The numbers do not look good at Ilioupoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Angelos Tsingaras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Ilioupoli asked and Asteras said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market12 Jun 2028
Add another name to the list: Digenis Morfou have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Julien Trichet. The answer from Ilioupoli has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Panetolikos have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jun 2028
42 days out for Judah Garcia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ilioupoli can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ilioupoli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The Ilioupoli board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market5 Jun 2028
Ilioupoli say no — this time
The offer from Kifisia for Banfa Diakité 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
Atkhana Ndao hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ilioupoli can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Panetolikos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad5 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Ilioupoli asked and Panetolikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 May 2028
49 days out for Judah Garcia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match29 May 2028
Every point is an argument now for Ilioupoli
Position 9 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Everybody at Ilioupoli saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Maidanos 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Julien Trichet 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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
87% of the income goes out in wages at Ilioupoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 May 2028
The mood at Ilioupoli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom22 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Ilioupoli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad22 May 2028
Judah Garcia breaks a bone — 58 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 May 2028
Judah Garcia hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ilioupoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 May 2028
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rodrigo Gelado is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Maidanos 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 dugout22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michalis Tsoumanis, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 May 2028
A fracture rules Judah Garcia out for 66 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilioupoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 May 2028
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad15 May 2028
Diallo Sanoussi 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 dugout15 May 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad15 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ilioupoli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market15 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ilioupoli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout15 May 2028
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.
Market15 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Judah Garcia may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 May 2028
74 days out for Judah Garcia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Michalis Galanopoulos has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Diallo Sanoussi 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 dugout8 May 2028
Praxitelis Vouros is still being punished for one mistake
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 dugout8 May 2028
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Paschalis Staikos is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout8 May 2028
Atkhana Ndao gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout8 May 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad8 May 2028
A season on the outside for Banfa Diakité
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ilioupoli has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 May 2028
A fracture rules Judah Garcia out for 82 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilioupoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match1 May 2028
Every point is an argument now for Ilioupoli
Position 9 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.
Market1 May 2028
Atkhana Ndao hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ilioupoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 May 2028
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
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.
Boardroom1 May 2028
Wages eat 91% of everything Ilioupoli earn
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.
Market1 May 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ilioupoli has been clear about where Dimitris Kalamvokis stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout1 May 2028
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Paschalis Staikos was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad1 May 2028
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Apr 2028
The mood at Ilioupoli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ilioupoli
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Judah Garcia out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilioupoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Diallo Sanoussi 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2028
Ilioupoli sink to position 9
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Praxitelis Vouros commits to Ilioupoli for another 2 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Diallo Sanoussi 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 dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Ilioupoli will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ilioupoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Stelios Vallindras is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Mar 2028
Anger at Ilioupoli spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
Pressure builds in the Ilioupoli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diallo Sanoussi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Giorgos Maidanos asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market27 Mar 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Judah Garcia may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Mar 2028
Iván Ortigoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgos Maidanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
91% of the income goes out in wages at Ilioupoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
The numbers do not look good at Ilioupoli
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giorgos Maidanos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michalis Tsoumanis, and the manager let it.
Market20 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ilioupoli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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 Michalis Tsoumanis is on it.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Ilioupoli will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Diallo Sanoussi 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Praxitelis Vouros'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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Mar 2028
Ilioupoli sink to position 9
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Angelos Tsingaras
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Ilioupoli will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Iván Ortigoza commits to Ilioupoli for another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rodrigo Gelado is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
Praxitelis Vouros loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Praxitelis Vouros's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
Markos Nino knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ilioupoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Feb 2028
Kostas Pomonis pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diallo Sanoussi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Ilioupoli asked and Athens Kallithea said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
The clock did what Olympiacos would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julien Trichet, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Praxitelis Vouros is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Ilioupoli will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market14 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michalis Kouiroukidis signs something — a contract at Ilioupoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Feb 2028
Every point is an argument now for Ilioupoli
Position 9 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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Michalis Galanopoulos has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 Ilioupoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Ilioupoli close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 3 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.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Ilioupoli is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rodrigo Gelado is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Asteras have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Giorgos Maidanos 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ousmane Sountoura
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ilioupoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
Anger at Ilioupoli spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the Ilioupoli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market31 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
Ilias Kyritsis has gone, the accounts have $450.0K 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Stelios Vallindras is a Ilioupoli player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
Volos NPS paid $450.0K and Ilioupoli took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad31 Jan 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Stelios Vallindras is living that version at Ilioupoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ousmane Sountoura
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ilioupoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ilioupoli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Iván Ortigoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Ilioupoli asked and Niki Volos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Wages swallow 105% of the Ilioupoli income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
A loan move for Juan Velázquez is in the works
Ilioupoli have made the call to Argentinos Juniors. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ousmane Sountoura
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ilioupoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Jan 2028
Ilioupoli finish in position 9
15 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ilioupoli can pretend not to have heard.
Match15 Jan 2028
The wait goes on for Ilioupoli
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Ilioupoli asked and Athens Kallithea said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgos Maidanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
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.
Match25 Dec 2027
Panionios left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
132% of the income goes out in wages at Ilioupoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ilioupoli pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
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 0‑1 Michalis Galanopoulos left the room before anybody could ask which.
Looking ahead27 Dec 2027
Chania next, and one man in the Ilioupoli dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market27 Dec 2027
The name of Banfa Diakité keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ilioupoli say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Dec 2027
Ilioupoli are in real trouble now
Position 8, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Marked 8.10 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Rodrigo Gelado is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Markos Nino beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
Three points for Ilioupoli, 3‑1 the final word against Panargiakos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad13 Dec 2027
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 terraces13 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Diallo Sanoussi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces6 Dec 2027
Anger at Ilioupoli spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ilioupoli
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Up for the corner, and Angelos Tsingaras delivers — 7.67
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Angelos Tsingaras scored, was marked 7.67, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match4 Dec 2027
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilias Kyritsis, and the manager let it.
Match4 Dec 2027
Three points for Ilioupoli, 1‑0 the final word against Olympiacos B in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match30 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for Ilioupoli
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Michalis Kouiroukidis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diallo Sanoussi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 111% of the Ilioupoli income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“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 dugout1 Nov 2027
Giorgos Maidanos asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match18 Oct 2027
Ilioupoli sink to position 9
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Iván Ortigoza 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 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diallo Sanoussi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Oct 2027
0‑2 to Panionios, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Michalis Galanopoulos left the room before anybody could ask which.
Looking ahead18 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Iván Ortigoza’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ilioupoli needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ilioupoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match25 Sep 2027
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Panargiakos had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Ilioupoli did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Giorgos Maidanos 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 terraces27 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dimitris Kalamvokis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match25 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dimitris Kalamvokis. 1‑0 against Panargiakos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A mark of 7.70, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Iván Ortigoza beats them one at a time
-
The dugout
Ilias Kyritsis dropped after a run of poor form
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Aug 2027
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ilioupoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Aug 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Ilioupoli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Ilioupoli
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEL Larisa have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match28 Aug 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ilioupoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market26 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ilioupoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ilioupoli have done the hard part with Olympiacos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to Atromitos 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panserraikos have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market26 Jul 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Banfa Diakité’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ilioupoli. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The offer went to AEK 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 dugout19 Jul 2027
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 Dimitris Thomaidis has written the date down.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Orestis Kreci asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 2027
Ilioupoli say no — this time
The offer from Marko for Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Atromitos; Ilioupoli go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Atromitos is saying, and nobody at Ilioupoli is enjoying the guessing.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Iván Ortigoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$58.0K was the most the club would pay and AEK 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to AEL Larisa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Ilioupoli academy
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
“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 Ilioupoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
No deal for Moussa Wagué at that price
Ilioupoli offered $600.0K; Panserraikos said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Iraklis have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
AEL Larisa have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan move for Lamarana Jallow is in the works
Ilioupoli have made the call to Levadiakos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market14 Jun 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michalis Kouiroukidis signs something — a contract at Ilioupoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ilioupoli can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Atromitos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Iván Ortigoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ilioupoli will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michalis Patiras, and the manager let it.
Market7 Jun 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Ilioupoli signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Open for business: Ilioupoli enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Iván Ortigoza for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ilioupoli will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Match26 Dec 2026
1‑3 to Panionios, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 144% of everything Ilioupoli earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Michalis Galanopoulos left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Michalis Patiras dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Banfa Diakité takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Banfa Diakité provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match14 Dec 2026
Ilioupoli are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 22 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Dimitris Tsakmakis 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Pavlos Eppas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.73 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Dec 2026
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
16 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Pavlos Eppas: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ilioupoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlos Eppas 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 terraces23 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Giorgos Kyriopoulos has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ilias Kyritsis
“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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Giorgos Kyriopoulos was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
It needed Giorgos Kyriopoulos to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Egaleo, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michalis Galanopoulos was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Ilioupoli dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Michalis Kouiroukidis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match9 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Ilioupoli
Position 3, 17 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ousmane Sountoura falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Michalis Galanopoulos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Michalis Patiras
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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Marko will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Michalis Patiras asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market9 Nov 2026
The name of Banfa Diakité keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ilioupoli say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Dimitris Tsakmakis 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Giorgos Kyriopoulos was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ilioupoli
17 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match23 Sep 2026
The small margins put Ilioupoli out
Out, 0‑3 to Panathinaikos, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
Ilioupoli are taken apart by Panathinaikos — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Diallo Sanoussi at 20 — 7.98
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Diallo Sanoussi did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Dimitris Tsakmakis 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
He is 20 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diallo Sanoussi. 1‑0 against Panargiakos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Manolis Mandalos, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
In brief
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Boardroom
Inquest at Ilioupoli
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Squad
Ilioupoli are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Olympiacos B had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Ilioupoli did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Ilioupoli
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Pavlos Eppas 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Banfa Diakité. 2‑1 against Olympiacos B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Sep 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.93, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michalis Patiras, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Levadiakos died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Ilioupoli until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dimitris Tsakmakis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Ilioupoli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
No place for Pavlos Eppas in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ilioupoli are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Iván Ortigoza slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Iván Ortigoza is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Ilioupoli now.
Market7 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Judah Garcia may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.