Two goals and a mark of 8.20 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 Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
Cartagena made Córdoba work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jones El-Abdellaoui is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Facundo Bernal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I watch every Córdoba game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alverca runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.74 for the rest of it.
Facundo Bernal was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Fran Castillo has, at Córdoba, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Córdoba did not have in the autumn.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jones El-Abdellaoui 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Córdoba can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba 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 Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Córdoba told Theo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Nobody at Córdoba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Córdoba has been clear about where Joseph Tshituka Songwe stands, which is more than many ever get.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Theo has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iker Álvarez signs something — a contract at Córdoba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I watch every Córdoba game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Athletic Club runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jones El-Abdellaoui 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Iker Álvarez's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Inti Borghetto 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.
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Pedro Ortiz
61Edition
The Córdoba Post
27 Sep 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Pedro Ortiz delivers — 7.92
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Pedro Ortiz scored, was marked 7.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
Valen Gómez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I watch every Córdoba game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alverca runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Sociedad have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Valen Gómez 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
14 new faces, and Córdoba are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The offer from Guadalajara for Ramón Vilà 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 Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Córdoba asked and Atlético Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Aimar Guerrero after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Córdoba will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 13 gone
That is the business done at Córdoba until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Celta have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Córdoba heard it as anything else.
Add another name to the list: Guadalajara have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ramón Vilà. The answer from Córdoba has not changed — yet.
Facundo Bernal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The offer from Astana for Rubén Alves 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.
Córdoba asked and Ponferradina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Córdoba and Alcorcón have settled on $430.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Facundo Bernal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“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 Córdoba, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Rubén Alves again, and this time the name on the line is Astana. Córdoba are listening politely and promising nothing.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
The fee is $490.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Ikorodu City drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Facundo Bernal 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.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniel Ferrer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Everything agreed with Ikorodu City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Córdoba asked and Atlético Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Córdoba told Franck Fomeyem something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Medina is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pedro Ortiz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
$3.4M was the most the club would pay and Sporting CP were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Córdoba asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Santiago Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Córdoba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Córdoba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Córdoba have gone to Sporting CP with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Córdoba will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Enol Rodríguez is on it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Facundo Bernal was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
15 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Córdoba will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The offer from Mérida for Kevin Medina 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.
Córdoba have gone to Juventud Torremolinos with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.3M — a club that wants Pau Pérez enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Madrid have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iker Álvarez signs something — a contract at Córdoba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Córdoba asked and Juventud Torremolinos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gianfranco Gazzaniga has, at Córdoba, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Córdoba has been clear about where Nikolay Obolskiy stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Christian Carracedo 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.
37 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Córdoba now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Córdoba have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Córdoba asked and Real Sociedad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
17 games, 5 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Córdoba now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad28 Jun 2027
5 new faces, and Córdoba are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
The dugoutEnol Rodríguez has become a man the manager trusts
Nélson Monte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Benegas 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.
Córdoba asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Córdoba will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Real Sociedad is saying, and nobody at Córdoba is enjoying the guessing.
The name of Kevin Medina has come up in conversations Córdoba were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Córdoba will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Córdoba have done the hard part with Real Sociedad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
18 shut-outs in 35 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Ramón Vilà has been having a lot of them.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
Córdoba asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.67, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad31 May 2027
Mateo Benegas 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Joseph Tshituka Songwe and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Aimar Guerrero could afford to be generous.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
The dugoutTrilli has become a man the manager trusts
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.75 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Aimar Guerrero after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franck Fomeyem 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout17 May 2027
Yussi Diarra is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
15 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Córdoba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
34 appearances at Eldense and the goals have stopped going in. Córdoba lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Benegas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pedro Ortiz is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pedro Ortiz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cádiz in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Enol Rodríguez’s exile
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Andorra will replay every second of the added time for a week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikolay Obolskiy provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
A 2‑1 win over Racing Santander, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateo Benegas did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mateo Benegas 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Aimar Guerrero could afford to be generous.
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Benegas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iker Álvarez signs something — a contract at Córdoba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Guilherme Fernandes is on it.
In brief
The dugoutTheo left out for tactical reasons at Córdoba
Player ratingsHalf an hour was enough for Diego Bri
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Córdoba can tell you which week it ends in.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pedro Ortiz is on it.
Ramón Vilà’s loan is measured in nothing happening
16 clean sheets from 28 appearances at Eldense. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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.
Joseph Tshituka Songwe 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Juan Gutiérrez is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Aimar Guerrero chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Málaga defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Nobody at Córdoba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Benegas 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 manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Medina is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nélson Monte’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Córdoba needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Córdoba. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
3 goals in 10 games at Alcorcón — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Córdoba updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Córdoba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Córdoba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Mateo Benegas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Córdoba pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad22 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Córdoba are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
4 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Aimar Guerrero was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Córdoba dressing room was either.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Córdoba will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
26 appearances at Eldense and the goals have stopped going in. Córdoba lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Córdoba told Marc Pubill something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Yussi Diarra
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos Albarrán and Córdoba agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Benegas 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.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
Ramón Vilà’s loan is measured in nothing happening
14 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Eldense. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Córdoba can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adilson, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Mateo Benegas
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mateo Benegas has come out of that comparison in the side, and Córdoba have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Aimar Guerrero after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Córdoba hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Córdoba can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Córdoba, and 1 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Aimar Guerrero left the room before anybody could ask which.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Mateo Benegas has moved up it.
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Pedro Ortiz
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Aimar Guerrero was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Córdoba dressing room was either.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Medina is on it.
Three points for Córdoba, 1‑0 the final word against Granada in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Benegas 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.
Joseph Tshituka Songwe and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Córdoba are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Aimar Guerrero could afford to be generous.
Deportivo La Coruña arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Real Sociedad B will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Córdoba were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Córdoba had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sevilla, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Nélson Monte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7.79, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Antequera keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Joseph Tshituka Songwe is living that version at Córdoba, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $47.2M — a club that wants Lucas Cuffia enough to be asked twice.
Add another name to the list: Albacete have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dani Tasende. The answer from Córdoba has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Benegas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 85 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Córdoba had all but put away. Cultural Leonesa will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Córdoba have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Córdoba have done the hard part with Ferro Carril Oeste, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Córdoba have gone to Colón with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$150.0K was the most the club would pay and Las Palmas were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The phone has started ringing about Álex Martín again, and this time the name on the line is Sabadell. Córdoba are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Kashiwa Reysol for Erick Monteiro 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.
Córdoba had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Villarreal, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$150.0K on the table at Las Palmas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
15 appearances at Eldense and the goals have stopped going in. Córdoba lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Rayo Vallecano is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Juan Gutiérrez 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 8.41 — 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
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Yussi Diarra at his very best
Nélson Monte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
At 40, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
8 shut-outs in 13 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Ramón Vilà has been having a lot of them.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Álex Martín is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Córdoba man
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Adilson
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
8.26. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Aimar Guerrero on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Sergi Guardiola has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
1-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Córdoba and Real Madrid in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
2‑3 to Gijón, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Aimar Guerrero to a room that had heard them before.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Enol Rodríguez has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Nobody at Córdoba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Zaragoza the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Córdoba will enjoy reviewing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Alberto Del Moral, marked 7.98, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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 were 89 minutes on the clock and Las Palmas had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Córdoba did not stop to explain themselves.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sergi Guardiola. 2‑1 against Las Palmas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álex Martín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Aimar Guerrero, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Diego Percan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Córdoba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A 1‑0 win over Deportivo La Coruña, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba 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: Alberto Del Moral. 1‑0 against Málaga, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franck Fomeyem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.48 — 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Yussi Diarra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Theo had Córdoba level again within 2 minutes, and Ceuta never got to play with a lead at all.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Córdoba has been clear about where Nikolay Obolskiy stands, which is more than many ever get.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.65 for the rest of it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yussi Diarra. 2‑0 against Leganés, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Yussi Diarra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Córdoba are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Aimar Guerrero could afford to be generous.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
The dugoutPedro Ortiz knocks on the manager's door
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Córdoba may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Castellón defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Leganés in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Córdoba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 39, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8.10. 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Córdoba are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Aimar Guerrero left the room before anybody could ask which.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Juan Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Del Moral 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Córdoba are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Deportivo La Coruña next, and one man in the Córdoba dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nélson Monte 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sergi Guardiola. 1‑0 against Real Sociedad B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Enol Rodríguez, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Aimar Guerrero, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iker Álvarez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
7 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken Christian Carracedo to Las Palmas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Córdoba with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Córdoba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Carlos Albarrán reports back to Córdoba with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Sergi Guardiola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Diego Bri is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Getafe arrived with $11.9M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The offer from Las Palmas for Christian Carracedo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
Isma Ruiz has gone, the accounts have $11.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Aimar Guerrero was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Córdoba dressing room was either.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isma Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Las Palmas have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Córdoba.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Aimar Guerrero, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Córdoba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The terracesThe Isma Ruiz rumours reach the terraces
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Athletic Bilbao have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isma Ruiz 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.
Álex Martín 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 Isma Ruiz signs something — a contract at Córdoba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Cultural Leonesa next, and one man in the Córdoba dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Córdoba have no good answer.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christian Carracedo and Córdoba agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Córdoba asked and Villarreal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcos Vidal has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Javier Santiago has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lucas Jiménez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Diego Blanco is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Atlético Madrid have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isma Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Córdoba asked and Betis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Córdoba, another week without a signature from Carlos Albarrán.
Still no offer on the table, and Iker Álvarez’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.