“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 The request is on a desk at Mirandés, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mirandés are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nil Santana has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lucas Santiago has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Carlos Márquez had Mirandés level again within 3 minutes, and Sanluqueño never got to play with a lead at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 combined actions and 6.78. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elijah Owona 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“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 dugout29 Nov 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Jesús Marín to a room that had heard them before.
At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Muñoz dropped after a run of poor form
Player ratingsÁlvaro Djaló beats them one at a time
6 goals in one match, Carlos Márquez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Mirandés and Real Murcia.
Sergio Postigo 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 easiest signature of my career.” Joel Sacks and Mirandés agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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.” Jesús Marín chose the glass-half-full version of 3‑3; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksymilian Szady was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Joel Sacks is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
In brief
SquadA Mirandés teenager takes the young player award
Martín Pascual 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Elijah Owona 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.
“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 dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Martín Pascual'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.
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 Mickaël Malsa is on it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Mirandés will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Real Murcia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirandés know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Álvaro Djaló and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Elijah Owona 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 Mickaël Malsa is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mickaël Malsa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Mirandés that is a harder question to answer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elijah Owona was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutMickaël Malsa knocks on the manager's door
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Tarazona were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Mendes 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.
7.76, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Mirandés had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad27 Sep 2027
14 new faces, and Mirandés are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jesús Marín on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutÁlvaro Djaló knocks on the manager’s door
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Miguel Guzmán is living that version at Mirandés, and it tends to show in the first month.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Mirandés will try again when the window opens; Ibiza may not be selling by then.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Elijah Owona 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Jesús Marín to a room that had heard them before.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mirandés, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Mirandés close the window on a squad of their own making
26 in and 6 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.
The offer went to Ibiza 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dani Clavijo has, at Mirandés, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mirandés hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guadalajara have kept their man, and Mirandés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Elijah Owona 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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mirandés lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Agustín Muto has, at Mirandés, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mirandés have done the hard part with Vélez, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Cristian Arceo 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.
Mirandés asked and Vélez said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Mickaël Malsa is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mickaël Malsa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mirandés lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mirandés have done the hard part with Real Madrid, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mirandés asked and Teruel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$60.0K was the most the club would pay and Antequera were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirandés 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 Elijah Owona was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mirandés will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Mickaël Malsa is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirandés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Mirandés, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sevilla is saying, and nobody at Mirandés is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Houary was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mirandés asked and Cádiz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to Atlético Madrid: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Racing Santander 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.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Pablo López'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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirandés can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Sevilla is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The phone has started ringing about Mickaël Malsa again, and this time the name on the line is Lommel. Mirandés are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Helguera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mirandés asked and Albacete said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mirandés have made the call to Barcelona. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirandés can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 May 2027
Ali Houary 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.
Sergio Postigo 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirandés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Houary 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jesús Marín after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirandés, and both men came out saying it was fine.
20 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.
13 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Houary 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.
Sergio Postigo 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirandés, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mirandés will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
Position 22 and 18 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.
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ali Houary 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.
Everybody at Mirandés 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mirandés are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Luiz Felipe 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thiago Helguera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
15 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Mirandés know it.
Juan Palomares 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
Luiz Felipe 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirandés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Helguera 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.
Betis will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Vasco Sousa has pre-agreed a move to Mirandés, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Aritz Arambarri 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Zaragoza had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salim El Jebari is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 7.23, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Aritz Arambarri 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.
Mirandés asked and Elche said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
11 combined actions and 6.90. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“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 Mirandés, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Bravo 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Almería in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Thiago Helguera has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thiago Milanese trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Next up on the road: Almería, position 2. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Mirandés close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 0 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.
Mirandés had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at River Plate, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Luiz Felipe 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.