Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ibrahim Muhammad is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Montana have done the hard part with Godoy Cruz, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Spartak Moscow is saying, and nobody at Montana is enjoying the guessing.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Azevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to Spartak Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Vajebah Sakor was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Montana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Muhammad 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.
Vajebah Sakor was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Azevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giorgos Pontikos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Azevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Montana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Montana the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Montana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Montana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Pontikos 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Xavier Venâncio is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vladislav Tsekov has his answer from Montana; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Montana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Tomás Azevedo 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Montana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Montana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Hossam Abdelmaguid 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 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Montana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Pontikos 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Montana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutAlbin Linnér asks for a word with the manager
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yordan Milanov 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Montana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xavier Venâncio 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.
Albin Linnér 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.
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Solomon James
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Hossam Abdelmaguid 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.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stoycho Petkov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tsvetan Bozhikov 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.
Position 10, 16 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.
Tomás Azevedo 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.
Albin Linnér 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It needed Giacomo Corona to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Spartak 1918, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Stoycho Bojinov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Montana dressing room was either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Muhammad trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Montana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Montana until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Montana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Azevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.