“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
In brief
SquadAlan Paredes asks for a word with the manager
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
Boardroom$2.2M taken back off the 12 de Octubre table
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Facundo Ortellado and 12 de Octubre agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” 12 de Octubre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
12 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
12 de Octubre spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at 12 de Octubre pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Sol de America pay $430.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
Libertad go through and 12 de Octubre go home, 0-0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” 12 de Octubre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Oscar Coronel will call it something else in private.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at 12 de Octubre, and 4 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sol de America defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” 12 de Octubre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
0-3 to Sportivo Trinidense, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” 12 de Octubre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
A 1-0 win over General Caballero, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
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.
At 26 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. 12 de Octubre have a decision that made itself.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. 12 de Octubre have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at 12 de Octubre, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
He is 16, and nobody at 12 de Octubre signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
He is 17, and nobody at 12 de Octubre signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Carlos Balbuena is 15, and 12 de Octubre have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. José Miers has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
The deal that would have taken Adolfo Ávila to Sportivo Trinidense has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to 12 de Octubre with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A new face in his position, and Wilfrido Rivas suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. 12 de Octubre have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken Lucas Acosta to Sol de America has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to 12 de Octubre with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at 12 de Octubre has been clear about where Matías González stands, which is more than many ever get.
Marquinhos Pedroso is 33 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.
A new face in his position, and Nery Bareiro suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. 12 de Octubre have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
225% of the income goes out in wages at 12 de Octubre
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Facundo Ortellado plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
He came through the session, took part in everything and finished it smiling. 12 de Octubre will not rush him, and he will spend the next fortnight trying to rush them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
225% of the income goes out in wages at 12 de Octubre
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Alan Caruaru has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Santiago Caballero, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
432% of the income goes out in wages at 12 de Octubre
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fernando Noguera may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
280% of the income goes out in wages at 12 de Octubre
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.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fernando Noguera may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
He came through the session, took part in everything and finished it smiling. 12 de Octubre will not rush him, and he will spend the next fortnight trying to rush them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Alan Caruaru is 34, with 0 appearances behind him, and 12 de Octubre will have to plan for whichever answer comes.