14 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, 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. Gastón Pérez has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
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.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Nicolás Leites plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Thiago Dubroca has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
He came through the session, took part in everything and finished it smiling. Artigas will not rush him, and he will spend the next fortnight trying to rush them.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Emilio MacEachen has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
8 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
“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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Federico Viera will call it something else in private.
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 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.
The deal that would have taken Federico Viera to Albion has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Artigas with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Artigas have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Artigas can pretend not to have heard.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Anthony da Costa will call it something else in private.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Nicolás Leites has let it be known that he does not like the way Artigas are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Adrián Leites has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Artigas know, and have known for weeks.
$240.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
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.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Anthony da Costa has let it be known that he does not like the way Artigas are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
In brief
The terracesThe press have found their man in Nicolás Leites
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadThe selectors could not leave Gastón Pérez out
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.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Thiago Dubroca has let it be known that he does not like the way Artigas are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 31 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
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.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 shirt still fits. Jonathan Ramirez is back at Artigas, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Ángel Cayetano has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
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 Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Yonathan Gorgoroso plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A new face in his position, and Emilio MacEachen suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Artigas 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 Artigas can pretend not to have heard.
Óscar Contreras is 20, and Artigas 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.
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 Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A new face in his position, and Gastón Pérez suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Artigas have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Yonathan Gorgoroso plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Henrique Aguiar is 20, and Artigas 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.
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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Luiz has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Penarol go through and Artigas go home, 0-2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
4 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
48 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 Artigas can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 4 of the 20 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
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.