Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Burgos will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro 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.
Nobody at Burgos will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Burgos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Jorge Gonzalez obliged against Eldense. 3‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Burgos.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.34 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Mejía 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.
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Felipe Zenobio has come out of that comparison in the side, and Burgos have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Burgos can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Curro 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.
Elche made Burgos work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Mejía 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.70, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Burgos told Felipe Zenobio something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro 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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jon Karrikaburu provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jon Karrikaburu. 2‑0 against Mallorca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Mateo Mejía 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Pol Alonso on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Jon Karrikaburu was the best thing in any of them.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Unai Vencedor signs something — a contract at Burgos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alejandro Pozo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Burgos needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alejandro Pozo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Burgos needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A new face in his position, and Unai Vencedor suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Burgos have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“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 Burgos will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Burgos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Curro 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 have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pol Alonso after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Burgos has been clear about where Grego Sierra stands, which is more than many ever get.
Leonardo Bovio is 19, and Burgos 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.
6 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Burgos, 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 Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Eibar made Burgos work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Mejía 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Pol Alonso could afford to be generous.
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mateo Mejía wants continental football; whether Burgos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Jack Moylan 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.
0‑2 to Cultural Leonesa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Mejía 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
9 combined actions and 6.41. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Albacete defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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 Burgos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevilla have kept their man, and Burgos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Mejía 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.
Mikki van Sas 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Burgos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad6 Sep 2027
12 new faces, and Burgos 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brais Martínez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Gil Vicente keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Pablo Galdames scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Pablo Galdames’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Burgos.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Mejía 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 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.
$9.7M on the table at Gil Vicente. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martín Marín 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jorge Jiménez 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. Lucas Marín 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Antonio Campos 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.
Add another name to the list: Almería have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marcelo Expósito. The answer from Burgos has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Espanyol have kept their man, and Burgos 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 Mateo Mejía was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jorge Gonzalez has his answer from Burgos; what he does with it is the next window’s 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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Antequera 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pablo Galdames wants continental football; whether Burgos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.1M — a club that wants Luismi enough to be asked twice.
Curro 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.
Burgos asked and Córdoba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Grego Sierra commits to Burgos for another 2 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Mejía 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Burgos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The chase for Markel Lozano ended with $1.9M changing hands and Zamora out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Burgos heard it as anything else.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Markel Lozano has just signed for Burgos, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Andorra have kept their man, and Burgos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Burgos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Burgos asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Mejía was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Unai Vencedor signs something — a contract at Burgos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brahian Ayala trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Burgos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Burgos have gone to Juventud Torremolinos with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Burgos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.2M — a club that wants Pau Pérez enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevilla have kept their man, and Burgos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Burgos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Curro 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 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Mateo Mejía’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Burgos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David González signs something — a contract at Burgos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Álex Forés has written the date down.
The shirt still fits. Juanma is back at Burgos, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Burgos heard it as anything else.
36 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Burgos now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Espanyol have kept their man, and Burgos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Mejía 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.
8 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Burgos can pretend not to have heard.
Burgos and Algeciras have settled on $450.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Burgos asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
36 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Burgos now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Oier Luengo 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Unai Vencedor signs something — a contract at Burgos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutOier Luengo asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Burgos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$12.2M was the most the club would pay and CSKA Sofia 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.
The deal that would have taken Sergio González to Algeciras has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Burgos with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Alejandro Pozo 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 Jun 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Álex Forés trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Burgos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Burgos have gone to CSKA Sofia with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Burgos have had the benefit of it.
Burgos asked and Holstein Kiel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
José Gragera 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.
Holstein Kiel 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.
Wycombe Wanderers 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.
Position 6 on 70 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Burgos and Ceuta have settled on $3.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Burgos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Burgos have done the hard part with Ponferradina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oier Luengo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Transfer targetsA loan move for Jonas Krumrey is in the works
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Lencina provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Santiago Lencina 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 23 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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 ratings31 May 2027
Curro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑1, Pol Alonso could afford to be generous.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Burgos can tell you which week it ends in.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 May 2027
José Gragera 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.
Andorra next, and one man in the Burgos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jon Karrikaburu wants continental football; whether Burgos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Burgos can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oier Luengo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 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 0‑3 Pol Alonso left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos 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 José Gragera 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Gijón next, and one man in the Burgos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Curro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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.
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oier Luengo 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.
Mirandés will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Burgos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A brace, and Filip Ugrinić takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Filip Ugrinić provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oier Luengo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Pol Alonso, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Ceuta defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Chances created: 8. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Santiago Lencina 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 Apr 2027
José Gragera 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Álex Lizancos
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pol Alonso after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Burgos would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pablo Galdames wants continental football; whether Burgos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alejandro Pozo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mario Cantero
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alejandro Pozo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Burgos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Grego Sierra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Mario Cantero has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Burgos the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Deportivo La Coruña left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Oier Luengo 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Burgos told Filip Ugrinić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oier Luengo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pol Alonso after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Deportivo La Coruña arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
“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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Marked 6.77. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jon Karrikaburu. 3‑1 against Real Sociedad B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
11 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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.
“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 Burgos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Three points for Burgos, 1‑0 the final word against Valladolid in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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.
“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 Burgos know it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Pol Alonso could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Burgos asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
9 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oier Luengo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kévin Appin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑1 draw with Cultural Leonesa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Álex Lizancos
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Burgos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David González. 1‑0 against Almería, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Burgos asked and Castellón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Kévin Appin 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.
Athletic Bilbao 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 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.
The dugout25 Jan 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.” Pol Alonso chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Burgos have done the hard part with Ponferradina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Espanyol paid $1.4M and Burgos took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Jon Karrikaburu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Burgos.
Squad18 Jan 2027
José Gragera 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.
Grego Sierra 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.
Position 5, 39 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.
“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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jon Karrikaburu wants continental football; whether Burgos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevilla have kept their man, and Burgos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
José Gragera 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.
Marcelo Expósito 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.
Valencia 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pol Alonso was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Burgos dressing room was either.
“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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marked 7.89 on 16 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Ander Cantero 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.
Burgos asked and CSKA Sofia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Burgos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Curro 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
José Gragera 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 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pol Alonso was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Burgos dressing room was either.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Gijón in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ander Cantero, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pol Alonso after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Víctor Mollejo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Burgos needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Successful dribbles: 10. 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Something was said to Santiago Lencina and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brahian Ayala trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Burgos will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Burgos squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Pol Alonso kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pablo Galdames wants continental football; whether Burgos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It finished 1‑0, and it was David González’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Burgos.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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 Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Pol Alonso on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Ander Cantero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Curro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Curro had Burgos level again within 2 minutes, and Leganés never got to play with a lead at all.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pol Alonso was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Burgos dressing room was either.
Nobody at Burgos is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Burgos was different afterwards.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Burgos will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad16 Nov 2026
José Gragera 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.
Leganés next, and one man in the Burgos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jon Karrikaburu wants continental football; whether Burgos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Curro 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.
A 2‑1 win over Castellón, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Pol Alonso could afford to be generous.
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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
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.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Deportivo La Coruña; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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 words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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.
13 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Pol Alonso on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Burgos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Valladolid made Burgos work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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.
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Pol Alonso kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Burgos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fermín trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Burgos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Burgos the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 18 actions, 7.17, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Ander Cantero 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Burgos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Burgos.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Pol Alonso, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Burgos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Three points for Burgos, 2‑1 the final word against Cultural Leonesa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Unai Vencedor'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.
13 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Pol Alonso on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Burgos have no good answer.
11 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.
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 Álex Forés has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutGrego Sierra asks for a word with the manager
“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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Huesca? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Burgos, another week without a signature from Isaías Fretes.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kévin Appin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Burgos will try again when the window opens; Sevilla may not be selling by then.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Álex Forés is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ignasi Vilarrasa’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Burgos needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Burgos spent the window trying to move Ander Cantero on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
Burgos and Sevilla have settled on $5.8M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Burgos offered $13.4M; SuperSport United 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.
Burgos asked and Tenerife 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 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Pol Alonso, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The offer went to SuperSport United 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.
Burgos asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Burgos offered $1.8M; Athletic Bilbao 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.
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
José Gragera 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Cádiz scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pol Alonso after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $11.1M — a club that wants Zaid Romero enough to be asked twice.
Ander Cantero 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.
Burgos asked and Eldense 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 Aug 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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 about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cádiz in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Burgos have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The offer went to Getafe 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.
Add another name to the list: Ceuta have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about David González. The answer from Burgos has not changed — yet.
The offer went to Athletic Bilbao 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Deportivo La Coruña is saying, and nobody at Burgos is enjoying the guessing.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Víctor Muñoz 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Burgos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Burgos asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Burgos have made the call to Deportivo La Coruña. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.