The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
9 goals in one match, Marc-Olivier Doué on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Castellón and Ceuta.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Castellón can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Castellón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Pablo Santiago was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.31. 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.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Manuel Mecozzi did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Diego Barri 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.
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Castellón know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón 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 Iñigo Córdoba signs something — a contract at Castellón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pablo Santiago provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Barış Ekincier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Castellón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Barış Ekincier has agreed terms with Almería for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Iñigo Córdoba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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 words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 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.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7 goals in one match, Pablo Santiago on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Castellón and Málaga.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Castellón, 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 Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 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 words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces13 Aug 2029
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Álvaro Odriozola 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 words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Diego Barri 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
BoardroomThe Castellón production line keeps running
155Edition
The Castellón Post
16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondentUneasy
The terraces16 Jul 2029
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadÁlvaro García has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Boardroom95% of the income goes out in wages at Castellón
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Castellón is running low.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Pierlorenzo Lombardi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Sienra 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Castellón can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Adam Jakobsen signs something — a contract at Castellón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Lucas Alcázar talk too
BoardroomThe Castellón production line keeps running
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Máximo Leguizamón wants continental football; whether Castellón can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Castellón will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Diego Barri 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Alcázar 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Mirandés the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Castellón will enjoy reviewing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.70 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
A 1‑0 win over Ceuta, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Adam Jakobsen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.04 — 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Albacete kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Castellón will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings14 May 2029
A brace, and Lucas Alcázar takes the afternoon — 8.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lucas Alcázar provided it, and the 8.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jamel Beggs did not need any: 8.59, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jamel Beggs has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Sienra 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.
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.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Sienra 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
34 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Diego Barri 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 1‑0 win over Real Sociedad B, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Iñigo Córdoba
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Douglas Aurélio. 3‑2 against Valladolid, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Douglas Aurélio in the middle of it, and Valladolid unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 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.
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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining 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.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Agustín Sienra, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Álvaro Martín 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.
13 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.90, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Pablo Santiago was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.86. 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.
“I watch every Castellón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Perugia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Adam Jakobsen
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Castellón is running low.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Castellón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Racing Santander runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marked 8.92 — 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Diego Barri 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.
Shots: 10. 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Castellón know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 9.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Castellón and Andorra in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsDouglas Aurélio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Alcázar 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.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Castellón interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
A brace, and Adam Jakobsen takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adam Jakobsen provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Castellón and Gijón, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Alcázar 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.
Shots: 11. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against Cultural Leonesa, and it could have been more.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
A brace, and Adam Jakobsen takes the afternoon — 8.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adam Jakobsen provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gonzalo Almenara is living that version at Castellón, and it tends to show in the first month.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Castellón and Cultural Leonesa, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Pablo Santiago was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.42. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Diego Barri 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.
Day 14 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Girona left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Álex Pérez 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.
Angelo Testa is 20, and Castellón 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Lucas Alcázar 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 stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Elie Nkpa has just signed for Castellón, and for once the answer mattered.
Ceuta made Castellón work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Iñigo Córdoba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.14. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
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.
“I watch every Castellón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Perugia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Castellón did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Pablo Santiago was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.31. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 22 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Castellón and Deportivo La Coruña, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Diego Barri 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Alcázar 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jérémy Mellot 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 performance of 9.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Castellón, and 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Alcázar 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 8.24 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Position 22 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Adam Jakobsen had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Eibar were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérémy Mellot 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Castellón is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Dario Pio D'Amico is a Castellón player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
6 goals in one match, Álvaro Martín on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Castellón and Málaga.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Álvaro Odriozola 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 left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Lucas Alcázar 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.
Marked 8.61 — 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Alcázar 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 8.43 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pablo Santiago provided it, and the 9.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7 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.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A brace, and Álvaro García takes the afternoon — 8.08
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Álvaro García provided it, and the 8.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Claudio Martinez Tanine is a Castellón player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
6 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.
28 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Lucas Alcázar 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.
“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 Castellón, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Alcázar 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
1‑6 against Gijón, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The terraces11 Sep 2028
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Álvaro Odriozola 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Castellón and Gijón in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Raffaele Colella is living that version at Castellón, and it tends to show in the first month.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shots: 13. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Castellón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Guus Frimpong is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Marked 9.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Castellón.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Álvaro Martín was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.91. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The offer from Huesca for Diogo Vítor was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Castellón and Girona in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
In brief
Player ratingsIñigo Córdoba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Pablo Santiago at his very best
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Castellón can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diogo Vítor will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Castellón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The fee is $5.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Real Sociedad drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Vicenza for Máximo Leguizamón was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Castellón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
In brief
SquadLucas Alcázar falls out with a teammate over standards
Squad7 new faces, and Castellón are still learning each other
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Castellón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Castellón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAmir Abedzadeh falls out with a teammate over standards
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Iñigo Córdoba
99Edition
The Castellón Post
19 Jun 2028
From our football correspondentSteady
The terraces19 Jun 2028
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Racing Santander pay $6.7M, 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.
He is going to Racing Santander, the club has $6.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Castellón will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The offer from Andorra for Lipe Veloso was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Manuel Mecozzi has just signed for Castellón, and for once the answer mattered.
The phone has started ringing about Awer Mabil again, and this time the name on the line is Racing Santander. Castellón are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
11 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Burgos will make the call about Alberto Jiménez this week. Castellón have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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 coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jamel Beggs did not need any: 8.38, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Castellón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
The terraces22 May 2028
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Deportivo La Coruña will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Castellón were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lipe Veloso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Castellón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jérémy Mellot 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 words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Real Sociedad B will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Castellón were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.72 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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Castellón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadTanguy Nianzou falls out with a teammate over standards
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces24 Apr 2028
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Castellón 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.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
“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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Castellón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Lipe Veloso has agreed terms with Rayo Vallecano for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Jérémy Mellot 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 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mattia Mercogliano has just signed for Castellón, and for once the answer mattered.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Castellón can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
A brace, and Awer Mabil takes the afternoon — 9.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Awer Mabil provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Awer Mabil on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Castellón and Málaga.
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
Marked 9.01 — 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Castellón found something the first half had given no notice of, and Ceuta could not hold what they had.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.29 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Castellón scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
9 goals and a season average of 7.47. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tanguy Nianzou 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.
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Castellón interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Castellón can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Davide Renzetti is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
6 goals in one match, Tanguy Nianzou on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Castellón and Córdoba.
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
The mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tanguy Nianzou 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.
27 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 16 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
4 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Gijón the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Castellón will enjoy reviewing.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Pablo Santiago was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tanguy Nianzou 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.
Day 13 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Nicolás Núñez clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Castellón can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 mood at Castellón has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Castellón is running low.
“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 Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Castellón and Sevilla in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The phone has started ringing about Tincho again, and this time the name on the line is Girona. Castellón are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tanguy Nianzou 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Castellón can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 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.
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.
Marked 8.92 — 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Barış Ekincier is living that version at Castellón, and it tends to show in the first month.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Máximo Leguizamón wants continental football; whether Castellón can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Castellón know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Raúl Sánchez will want back
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
35 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Position 20 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Awer Mabil 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.
Marked 9.33 — 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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Castellón can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.77 — 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.
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.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Pablo Santiago was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.16. 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.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tanguy Nianzou 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jérémy Mellot signs something — a contract at Castellón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pierlorenzo Lombardi did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Diego Barri 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Pierlorenzo Lombardi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Pierlorenzo Lombardi had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Andorra were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Position 20 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Jérémy Mellot 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Awer Mabil signs something — a contract at Castellón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Real Sociedad B kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Castellón will be asked about the last half hour all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amir Abedzadeh and Castellón agree another 2 years.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Adam Jakobsen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.99. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsTanguy Nianzou was on a different afternoon to everybody else
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Castellón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jérémy Mellot 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marc-Olivier Doué commits to Castellón for another 5 years.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tanguy Nianzou 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.