From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Dec 2031
4‑0, and Rody Junior Effaghe took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ermis tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market29 Dec 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
A brace, and Rody Junior Effaghe takes the afternoon — 9.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rody Junior Effaghe provided it, and the 9.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match27 Dec 2031
Ermis cannot stop winning
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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Dec 2031
A season average of 7.44 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
Marked 8.52 — 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 ratings29 Dec 2031
Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Squad29 Dec 2031
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Dimitris Dimitriou now has 26 of them across 120 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Dec 2031
3‑0, and Rody Junior Effaghe took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ermis tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
A brace, and Rody Junior Effaghe takes the afternoon — 9.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rody Junior Effaghe provided it, and the 9.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ermis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Dec 2031
A season average of 7.40 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petros Laifis, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 Dec 2031
Ermis out of the cup
Omonoia ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match13 Dec 2031
3‑0, and Rody Junior Effaghe took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ermis tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match15 Dec 2031
Ermis are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 32 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad15 Dec 2031
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Player ratings15 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
Pieros Demetriou: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ermis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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 ratings15 Dec 2031
Marked 8.60 — 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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Christos Loukaidis
8 goals and a season average of 7.36 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Match6 Dec 2031
Ermis cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad8 Dec 2031
A season average of 7.30 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom8 Dec 2031
Ermis release $96.4K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Player ratings8 Dec 2031
Marked 7.62 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ermis had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
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 Christos Loukaidis is on it.
Player ratings8 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market8 Dec 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Dec 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 Dec 2031
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match29 Nov 2031
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 13 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad1 Dec 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Nov 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market1 Dec 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
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 Mario Simunovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ermis told Leontios Kalaitzis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Nov 2031
13 unbeaten for Ermis
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Ermis did not have in the autumn.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Looking ahead24 Nov 2031
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad24 Nov 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giorgos Christofi and Ermis agree another 4 years.
Match24 Nov 2031
The half-term report on Ermis
Position 2, 28 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
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.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
“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 dugout24 Nov 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Nov 2031
Ermis refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match15 Nov 2031
Whatever happens, Ermis do not lose
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ermis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Nov 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Nov 2031
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.
Match15 Nov 2031
It finished 2‑0, and it was Rody Junior Effaghe’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ermis.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Marked 8.45. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Dimitris Pinakas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Rody Junior Effaghe at his very best
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Miguel Rajani
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Nov 2031
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match8 Nov 2031
Whatever happens, Ermis do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 Nov 2031
A season average of 7.28 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
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.
Match8 Nov 2031
Ermis and Omonoia take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 dugout10 Nov 2031
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mario Simunovic after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Nov 2031
“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 Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Match1 Nov 2031
Ermis make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ermis have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad3 Nov 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Ljubić and Ermis agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Nov 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Nov 2031
Three points for Ermis, 2‑0 the final word against Doxa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Squad3 Nov 2031
A season average of 7.23 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
In brief
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Squad
A place in the month's best eleven for Dimitris Pinakas
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Ermis
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
Two goals and a mark of 9.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match25 Oct 2031
Whatever happens, Ermis do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Oct 2031
A 3‑2 win over Agia Napa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
“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.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
Ninety minutes of Dimitris Pinakas at his very best
Marked 8.47. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match25 Oct 2031
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Rody Junior Effaghe had Ermis level again within 1 minutes, and Agia Napa never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match20 Oct 2031
Ermis up to position 2
17 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match18 Oct 2031
Whatever happens, Ermis do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match18 Oct 2031
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Ermis. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Match18 Oct 2031
Three points for Ermis, 2‑1 the final word against AEL in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
“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.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ermis told Rody Junior Effaghe something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
Somebody else is better right now than Miguel Rajani
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ermis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market13 Oct 2031
“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 Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match11 Oct 2031
Still nobody has beaten Ermis
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Match11 Oct 2031
After 5 games, Ermis finally taste it again
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against APOEL; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Player ratings13 Oct 2031
Ninety minutes of Dimitris Pinakas at his very best
Marked 8.47. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Match11 Oct 2031
APOEL snatch it back from Ermis
A goal on 87 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Market13 Oct 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market6 Oct 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ermis can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Oct 2031
Ermis make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ermis have 5 straight wins of it.
Squad6 Oct 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match4 Oct 2031
Ermis keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
A performance of 8.91 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match4 Oct 2031
Aris made Ermis work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
Ninety minutes of Dimitris Pinakas at his very best
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market6 Oct 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match24 Sep 2031
Ermis through in the cup
A 3‑2 win over Ethnikos Achnas, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
“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.
Player ratings29 Sep 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.02, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match27 Sep 2031
Ermis cannot stop winning
4 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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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 terraces29 Sep 2031
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.
Match27 Sep 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rody Junior Effaghe. 2‑0 against Nea Salamis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match27 Sep 2031
Ermis are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings29 Sep 2031
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Sep 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Match20 Sep 2031
Three points for Ermis, 2‑0 the final word against Paralimni in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
The manager makes an example of Miguel Rajani
“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.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Marked 8.48. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Marked 8.33 — 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.
Squad22 Sep 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pieros Demetriou commits to Ermis for another 3 years.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
Somebody else is better right now than Miguel Rajani
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 Sep 2031
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
A brace, and Christos Loukaidis takes the afternoon — 8.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christos Loukaidis provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Match13 Sep 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Christos Loukaidis. 2‑0 against AE Kition, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“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 dugout15 Sep 2031
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.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
Miguel Rajani dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
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.” Mario Simunovic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Market15 Sep 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad15 Sep 2031
No place for Ossama Ashley in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ermis are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Sep 2031
“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 Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ermis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Sep 2031
A move Petros Laifis would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Petros Laifis is living that version at Ermis, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dzhuneyt Ali commits to Ermis for another 1 years.
Squad8 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market8 Sep 2031
As if he never left: Petros Laifis returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Petros Laifis is a Ermis player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Transfer targets8 Sep 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Marked 7.46. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
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 Christos Loukaidis is on it.
In brief
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Market
Marco Vanzini told to find a new club
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Petros Ioannou asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 Sep 2031
“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.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Ermis close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 11 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
Everything agreed with Apollon, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Martin Hinteregger has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Market1 Sep 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ermis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Aug 2031
1‑3 to Anorthosis, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
Ermis asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Aug 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ermis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stelios Panagiotou is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Ermis
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market25 Aug 2031
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fotis Georgiou has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market25 Aug 2031
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marios Ioannou 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.
Market25 Aug 2031
One of our own: Antonis Laban joins the Ermis first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Antonis Laban is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Aug 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
The deal with Universidad de Chile 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Martin Hinteregger 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.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Apollon have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
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.
Market18 Aug 2031
The name of Panagiotis Kattirtzis keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Aug 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Aug 2031
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ermis have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Feyenoord have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
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.
Market11 Aug 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
The manager makes an example of Connor Austin
“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.
Market11 Aug 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Christos Loukaidis’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ermis. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Aug 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ermis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Aug 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Aug 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Petros Economides commits to Ermis for another 3 years.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Palmeiras 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.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
A loan enquiry to Club Brugge: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
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.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
The deal with Qarabag 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stelios Panagiotou is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jul 2031
At 30 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.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
APOEL will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kyriakos Georgiou has pre-agreed a move to Ermis, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market28 Jul 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
A loan move for Andrea Maran is in the works
Ermis have made the call to Nacional. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Jul 2031
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Jul 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nektarios Economides and Ermis agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Qarabag 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.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
A loan move for Oliver Kruger is in the works
Ermis have made the call to De Graafschap. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
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.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Jul 2031
The name of Panagiotis Kattirtzis keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Ermis asked and Dinamo Tbilisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
A loan enquiry to Qarabag: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Athletic Bilbao have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
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.
Market14 Jul 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
Petros Ioannou knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Jul 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Christos Loukaidis’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Jul 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ermis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Christian Zakaria is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dzhuneyt Ali 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.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Ermis asked and Qarabag said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Jul 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
A loan enquiry to Cruzeiro: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
A loan enquiry to KAA Gent: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Ermis sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout30 Jun 2031
“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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad30 Jun 2031
55 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to Penarol: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
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 Dimitris Dimitriou is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Jun 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Agia Napa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ermis is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad23 Jun 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Dzhuneyt Ali 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.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
Ermis asked and Atletico Nacional said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad23 Jun 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Connor Austin and Ermis agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
Penarol have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
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 Panagiotis Kattirtzis is on it.
Market23 Jun 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Panagiotis Kattirtzis signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
Giorgos Thoma knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Jun 2031
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
Ermis asked and Apollon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
Ermis have made the call to Penarol. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
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 Dimitris Pinakas is on it.
Market16 Jun 2031
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Ermis will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market16 Jun 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad16 Jun 2031
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Ermis lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Leontios Kalaitzis joins up with his country. Ermis lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Squad16 Jun 2031
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Ermis that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
In brief
-
Match
Continental football is in reach for Ermis
-
Market
Petros Ioannou runs his contract down
-
Boardroom
Ermis keep producing them
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Jun 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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 dugout9 Jun 2031
“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.
Market9 Jun 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to Penarol: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
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 Christos Loukaidis is on it.
Market9 Jun 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout2 Jun 2031
“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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2031
Ermis asked and Vélez 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 dugout2 Jun 2031
Nobody at Ermis 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.
The dugout2 Jun 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad2 Jun 2031
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ermis would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market2 Jun 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Ermis. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 May 2031
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Ermis will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad26 May 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Squad26 May 2031
Dzhuneyt Ali 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.
Squad26 May 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sergio Fernández commits to Ermis for another 3 years.
Market26 May 2031
He is 18, and nobody at Ermis signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout26 May 2031
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.
The dugout26 May 2031
Petros Ioannou knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 May 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Panagiotis Kattirtzis signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 May 2031
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ermis money.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 May 2031
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. Ermis will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad19 May 2031
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 May 2031
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sergio Fernández has just signed for Ermis, and for once the answer mattered.
The dugout19 May 2031
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.
The dugout19 May 2031
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market19 May 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 May 2031
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Match19 May 2031
Ermis have something to play for
Position 5 on 50 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Squad19 May 2031
Competition arrives for Ivan Ljubić
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Ermis have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 May 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 May 2031
Dzhuneyt Ali falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout12 May 2031
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 Christos Loukaidis is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout5 May 2031
“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.
Squad5 May 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cüneyt Köz and Ermis agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 May 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Squad5 May 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 May 2031
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.
Squad5 May 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Apr 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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 dugout28 Apr 2031
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.
Market28 Apr 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Panagiotis Kattirtzis signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Apr 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
“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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christos Georgiou and Ermis agree another 3 years.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
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.
Market21 Apr 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kıvanç Küçükkarış trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match21 Apr 2031
Ermis in the hunt for Europe
Position 5, 50 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Boardroom21 Apr 2031
The Ermis academy earns its keep
58 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Apr 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
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.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Apr 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Ermis that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout7 Apr 2031
“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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Ljubić and Ermis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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 dugout7 Apr 2031
Nobody at Ermis 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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
The armband comes off Cüneyt Köz
Ermis will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Market7 Apr 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Mar 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Dzhuneyt Ali 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.
Boardroom31 Mar 2031
85% of the income goes out in wages at Ermis
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
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 Panagiotis Kattirtzis is on it.
Market31 Mar 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Panagiotis Kattirtzis signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kıvanç Küçükkarış has written the date down.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
Marco Vanzini knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Vanzini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 Mar 2031
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ermis could get for him.
Squad31 Mar 2031
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Ermis the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Mar 2031
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dzhuneyt Ali 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.
Market24 Mar 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Too much change too quickly at Ermis
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
Dimitris Pinakas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ermis 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.
Market24 Mar 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad24 Mar 2031
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Ermis lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Match24 Mar 2031
Continental football is in reach for Ermis
50 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
Marco Vanzini knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Vanzini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Mar 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rody Junior Effaghe, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
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.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market17 Mar 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad17 Mar 2031
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Mar 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
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.
Market10 Mar 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kıvanç Küçükkarış has written the date down.
Squad10 Mar 2031
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Mar 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Cüneyt Köz commits to Ermis for another 1 years.
Squad3 Mar 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
“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.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
Wages swallow 86% of the Ermis income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad3 Mar 2031
A place in the month's best eleven for Rody Junior Effaghe
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rody Junior Effaghe has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ermis have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
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.
Market3 Mar 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Panagiotis Kattirtzis signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market3 Mar 2031
The clock does Martin Hinteregger’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ermis could ask drops and the wages Martin Hinteregger can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nektarios Merkis and Ermis agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad24 Feb 2031
6 new faces, and Ermis 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 dugout24 Feb 2031
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 Dimitris Pinakas is on it.
Market24 Feb 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ermis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Match24 Feb 2031
Continental football is in reach for Ermis
50 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market24 Feb 2031
Cüneyt Köz runs his contract down
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ermis money.
Market24 Feb 2031
Ermis have made Jovan Krneta available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Feb 2031
Full time on the season at Ermis
Position 5 on 50 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings17 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Feb 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dzhuneyt Ali 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 dugout17 Feb 2031
Cüneyt Köz gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
8 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad17 Feb 2031
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Market17 Feb 2031
Marco Vanzini is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ermis has been clear about where Marco Vanzini stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
Nobody at Ermis 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Feb 2031
Ermis win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Ethnikos Achnas will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
Two goals and a mark of 9.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market10 Feb 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ermis have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kyriakos Christofi did not need any: 8.43, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad10 Feb 2031
12 goals and a season average of 7.52. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match8 Feb 2031
Ethnikos Achnas made Ermis work for it, but the scoreboard read 5‑4 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Match8 Feb 2031
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Ermis. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dzhuneyt Ali 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Ermis 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.
Squad3 Feb 2031
15 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad3 Feb 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dzhuneyt Ali and Ermis agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Match1 Feb 2031
Omonoia left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings3 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout3 Feb 2031
Dzhuneyt Ali gets it from the manager
“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.
Market3 Feb 2031
The phone has started ringing about Grigoris Merkis again, and this time the name on the line is Doxa. Ermis are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match1 Feb 2031
The run is over for Ermis
4 matches without defeat, and then Omonoia. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings27 Jan 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match25 Jan 2031
Ermis cannot stop winning
4 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.
Player ratings27 Jan 2031
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market27 Jan 2031
The fee is $170.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Aris drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Jan 2031
14 goals and a season average of 7.31. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Dzhuneyt Ali 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.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEL have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match25 Jan 2031
It finished 2‑1, and it was Miguel Rajani’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ermis.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Jan 2031
$4.7M. Fees like that buy a footballer and rent a debate: every touch will be measured against the number for a season at least.
Match18 Jan 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Agia Napa, and it could have been more.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.52, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.55, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
A brace, and Christos Loukaidis takes the afternoon — 8.56
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christos Loukaidis provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Everything agreed with Aris, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match18 Jan 2031
Ermis make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ermis have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Christos Loukaidis
11 goals and a season average of 7.47 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad20 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ermis have done the hard part with AEL, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market13 Jan 2031
“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 Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces13 Jan 2031
Ermis sell a favourite for $400.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Labros Ioannou was one of the reasons people came, and $400.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market13 Jan 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad13 Jan 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market13 Jan 2031
Labros Ioannou has left for Paralimni in a $400.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad13 Jan 2031
9 goals and a season average of 7.43. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match11 Jan 2031
Ermis find a way past AEL
AEL made Ermis work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Jan 2031
“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 Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Jan 2031
He is 18, he is averaging 6.58, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market6 Jan 2031
Only the photograph left for Labros Ioannou
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Labros Ioannou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ermis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Jan 2031
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ermis had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Marco Vanzini arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marco Vanzini has, at Ermis, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad6 Jan 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Ljubić and Ermis agree another 1 years.
Transfer targets6 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. St. Gallen have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match4 Jan 2031
APOEL made Ermis work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
Ninety minutes of Dimitris Pinakas at his very best
Marked 8.43. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Dec 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ermis can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match28 Dec 2030
Ermis come up short against Aris
Aris left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
“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.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
A promise honoured at Ermis
Something was said to Ivan Ljubić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
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.
Squad30 Dec 2030
5 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Dec 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Panagiotis Artymatas 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.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
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.
The terraces23 Dec 2030
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.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
“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.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
Ninety minutes of Dimitris Pinakas at his very best
Marked 8.35. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match21 Dec 2030
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad23 Dec 2030
A season average of 7.24 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Dec 2030
The match ball belongs to Christos Loukaidis, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match14 Dec 2030
5‑1, and Christos Loukaidis took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ermis tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match11 Dec 2030
Ermis bow out of the cup
Omonoia go through and Ermis go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match16 Dec 2030
Ermis are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 33 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market16 Dec 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ermis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Dec 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Dec 2030
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ermis and Paralimni, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings16 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match14 Dec 2030
The run at home goes on for Ermis
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Dec 2030
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ermis scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market9 Dec 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ermis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Ljubić 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.
Match7 Dec 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Panagiotis Kattirtzis. 2‑1 against AE Kition, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Marked 8.58 — 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.
Match7 Dec 2030
Ermis make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Dec 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market2 Dec 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ermis can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings2 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Panagiotis Artymatas 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.
Boardroom2 Dec 2030
Ermis release $858.3K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Player ratings2 Dec 2030
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.68 on the card, and the Ermis support went home talking about one name.
Squad2 Dec 2030
A place in the month's best eleven for Leontios Kalaitzis
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Leontios Kalaitzis has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ermis have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Nov 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Ivan Ljubić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces25 Nov 2030
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.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Market25 Nov 2030
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Labros Ioannou has his answer from Ermis; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Marked 7.76 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ermis had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
Nobody at Ermis 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.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Nov 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market18 Nov 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market18 Nov 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ermis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Nov 2030
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match16 Nov 2030
The run is over for Ermis
4 matches without defeat, and then Apollon. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kıvanç Küçükkarış, and the manager let it.
Match18 Nov 2030
Ermis at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 4, 25 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Squad
International break empties Ermis
-
The dugout
Dimitris Pinakas gets picked when it counts
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad11 Nov 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match9 Nov 2030
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.27, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market11 Nov 2030
Labros Ioannou has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ermis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match9 Nov 2030
Ermis make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ermis have 4 straight wins of it.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ermis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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 Nov 2030
Panagiotis Artymatas 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.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
Marked 8.52 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Nov 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match4 Nov 2030
Ermis up to position 3
22 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
“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.
Match2 Nov 2030
Ermis make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ermis have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad4 Nov 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Ljubić and Ermis agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Nov 2030
Ermis get the job done against Omonoia
A 2‑0 win over Omonoia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings4 Nov 2030
A performance of 8.66 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Oct 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match26 Oct 2030
3‑0, and Miguel Rajani took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ermis tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match26 Oct 2030
Still nobody has beaten Ermis
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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 Oct 2030
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Ljubić 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 terraces28 Oct 2030
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.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
A performance of 8.50 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
Marked 8.33 — 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.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Oct 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 Oct 2030
Whatever happens, Ermis do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market21 Oct 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rafail Eleftheriou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ermis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Oct 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Panagiotis Artymatas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Match19 Oct 2030
Three points for Ermis, 1‑0 the final word against Agia Napa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Dimitris Pinakas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.53. 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.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Marked 8.25 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Oct 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Oct 2030
Labros Ioannou has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ermis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match12 Oct 2030
Still nobody has beaten Ermis
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Player ratings14 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Oct 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christos Georgiou and Ermis agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market14 Oct 2030
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ermis has been clear about where Rafail Eleftheriou stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
Dimitris Pinakas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ermis 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Oct 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Oct 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dimitris Pinakas commits to Ermis for another 4 years.
Match5 Oct 2030
Still nobody has beaten Ermis
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad7 Oct 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Oct 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Oct 2030
It finished 1‑0, and it was Miguel Rajani’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ermis.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Ninety minutes of Miguel Rajani at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Labros Ioannou, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Sep 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match28 Sep 2030
Ermis march on in the cup
Aris are out and Ermis go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match25 Sep 2030
Ermis march on in the cup
Aris are out and Ermis go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
No sign of nerves from Can Soyuncu at 18 — 7.80
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Can Soyuncu did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Match28 Sep 2030
Whatever happens, Ermis do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Panagiotis Artymatas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces30 Sep 2030
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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Sep 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match21 Sep 2030
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Nea Salamis, and it could have been more.
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.63, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market23 Sep 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ermis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Sep 2030
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad23 Sep 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ioannis Konstantinou and Ermis agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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 dugout23 Sep 2030
The manager makes an example of Cüneyt Köz
“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.
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
Marked 8.57 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Sep 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Sep 2030
An average of 6.69 in a first team he is several years too young for. Ermis have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market16 Sep 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ermis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Transfer targets16 Sep 2030
Ethnikos Achnas wanted more than $42.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad16 Sep 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets16 Sep 2030
Ermis asked and Santa Clara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings16 Sep 2030
Panagiotis Kattirtzis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Sep 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Sep 2030
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market9 Sep 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ermis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Panagiotis Kattirtzis provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market9 Sep 2030
“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 Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Marked 7.85 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
“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.
Market9 Sep 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ermis have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Sep 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match31 Aug 2030
The wait goes on for Ermis
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.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Ermis 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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cüneyt Köz and Ermis agree another 1 years.
Squad2 Sep 2030
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad2 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
Ermis have gone to Ethnikos Achnas 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.
Match31 Aug 2030
Ermis cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
Ermis asked and Apollon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Aug 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Aug 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ermis have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Omonoia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match24 Aug 2030
No end in sight to Ermis's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ermis has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stelios Panagiotou is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Boardroom26 Aug 2030
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Ermis
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Aug 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Aug 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ermis have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
$39.0K on the table at Ethnikos Achnas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
$38.0K was the most the club would pay and Ethnikos Achnas 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.
Squad19 Aug 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout19 Aug 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Aug 2030
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 Kıvanç Küçükkarış is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Aug 2030
36 days out for Jovan Krneta after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Aug 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Cüneyt Köz has improved at 38, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad12 Aug 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Apollon have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Aug 2030
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 Dimitris Pinakas is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Aug 2030
A fracture rules Jovan Krneta out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Aug 2030
Ermis say no — this time
The offer from Paralimni for Labros Ioannou 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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jovan Krneta commits to Ermis for another 1 years.
Squad5 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Aug 2030
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
A loan move for Seb Stacey is in the works
Ermis have made the call to Omonoia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout5 Aug 2030
Nobody at Ermis 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.
Market5 Aug 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christos Loukaidis signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
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Market
Cüneyt Köz runs his contract down
-
Boardroom
Ermis keep producing them
-
Boardroom
The Ermis board put their names to it
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Jul 2030
Jovan Krneta breaks a bone — 54 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 Jul 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ermis can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
Ermis had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Omonoia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad29 Jul 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
Ermis have gone to Ethnikos Achnas 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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
Nobody at Ermis 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.
Market29 Jul 2030
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ermis money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Jovan Krneta out for 62 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 Jul 2030
The deal that would have taken Labros Ioannou to Doxa has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Ermis with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
At 16 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
$38.0K was the most the club would pay and Ethnikos Achnas 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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Ermis asked and Omonoia 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 dugout22 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of Labros Ioannou
“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.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
A loan move for Ivan Andonov is in the works
Ermis have made the call to Qarabag. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Jul 2030
Jovan Krneta breaks a bone — 71 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Apollon is saying, and nobody at Ermis is enjoying the guessing.
Squad15 Jul 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
$38.0K on the table at Ethnikos Achnas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Charalambos Elia is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Dimitris Pinakas has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Ermis asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Omonoia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jul 2030
Jovan Krneta breaks a bone — 79 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Jul 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
$28.0K settles it between the clubs for Vid Belec
Apollon have accepted the money. What Ermis do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad8 Jul 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dzhuneyt Ali commits to Ermis for another 2 years.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market8 Jul 2030
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ermis has been clear about where Panagiotis Artymatas stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christos Loukaidis, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Jovan Krneta out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
“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.
Market1 Jul 2030
Add another name to the list: Doxa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Labros Ioannou. The answer from Ermis has not changed — yet.
Squad1 Jul 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Apollon have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dzhuneyt Ali 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.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
A loan enquiry to Atromitos: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad1 Jul 2030
A season on the outside for Dzhuneyt Ali
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ermis has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
In brief
-
The dugout
Kyriakos Christofi gets picked when it counts
-
Boardroom
The Ermis production line keeps running
-
Boardroom
The Ermis board choose calm
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jun 2030
Jovan Krneta breaks a bone — 95 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Jun 2030
“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 Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Jun 2030
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
At 25 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.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Ludogorets 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.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Panathinaikos have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jun 2030
A fracture rules Jovan Krneta out for 102 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Jun 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nea Salamis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ermis is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Apollon keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Connor Austin is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Ermis asked and St. Gallen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
A loan move for Laurent Seji is in the works
Ermis have made the call to Ludogorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
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 Dimitris Pinakas is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jun 2030
A fracture rules Jovan Krneta out for 109 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
Everything was agreed with Pafos and then the doctor spoke. Ermis have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Squad10 Jun 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jun 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
A loan enquiry to Pakhtakor: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
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 Panagiotis Kattirtzis is on it.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
“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.
Market10 Jun 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christos Loukaidis signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jun 2030
118 days out for Jovan Krneta after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market3 Jun 2030
Ermis say no — this time
The offer from Doxa for Labros Ioannou 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.
Market3 Jun 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Ljubić 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ben Winterburn 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.
Transfer targets3 Jun 2030
A loan enquiry to Pafos: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Jun 2030
A loan move for Agustín Ruberto is in the works
Ermis have made the call to River Plate. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Jun 2030
Adana Demirspor 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 May 2030
126 days out for Jovan Krneta after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ermis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad27 May 2030
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 May 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 May 2030
Ben Winterburn asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout27 May 2030
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 Kıvanç Küçükkarış is on it.
Squad27 May 2030
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Ermis will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 May 2030
Jovan Krneta breaks a bone — 135 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market20 May 2030
Only the photograph left for Labros Ioannou
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Labros Ioannou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ermis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 May 2030
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. Ermis will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad20 May 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Artymatas 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.
Squad20 May 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 May 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 May 2030
A fracture rules Jovan Krneta out for 143 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad13 May 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Panagiotis Kattirtzis and Ermis agree another 4 years.
Squad13 May 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Ljubić 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 dugout13 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Labros Ioannou, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 May 2030
Nobody at Ermis 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 May 2030
A fracture rules Jovan Krneta out for 151 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout6 May 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ermis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 May 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 May 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kıvanç Küçükkarış and Ermis agree another 2 years.
Squad6 May 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dzhuneyt Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market6 May 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Apr 2030
Jovan Krneta breaks a bone — 161 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 161 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Ivan Ljubić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
Jovan Krneta knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
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 Kıvanç Küçükkarış is on it.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Ben Winterburn has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Ermis that is a harder question to answer.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ermis. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market29 Apr 2030
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ermis could get for him.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Ermis keep producing them
-
Boardroom
The Ermis board put their names to it
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Apr 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ermis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Apr 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
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.
Market22 Apr 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miguel Rajani signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match22 Apr 2030
Ermis have something to play for
Position 4 on 44 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout15 Apr 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ermis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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 Apr 2030
Ben Winterburn falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
Nobody at Ermis 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.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
Ben Winterburn asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market15 Apr 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christos Loukaidis signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Apr 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan Ljubić commits to Ermis for another 2 years.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Apr 2030
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
Ben Winterburn knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ben Winterburn trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ermis would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Ljubić 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 dugout1 Apr 2030
Kıvanç Küçükkarış has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ermis 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ermis would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market1 Apr 2030
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ermis money.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
The manager plants his flag on Ben Winterburn
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Ben Winterburn’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Mar 2030
Labros Ioannou has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ermis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivan Ljubić 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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Ben Winterburn falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
The manager makes an example of Labros Ioannou
“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 dugout25 Mar 2030
Dimitris Pinakas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ermis 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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
“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 Ermis will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Mar 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
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.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
Jovan Krneta asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
“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.
Market18 Mar 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christos Loukaidis signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Mar 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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 Mar 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
Jovan Krneta knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
“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.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout4 Mar 2030
Labros Ioannou: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ermis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cüneyt Köz and Ermis agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Ben Winterburn 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.
Market4 Mar 2030
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ermis has been clear about where Martin Hinteregger stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad4 Mar 2030
A place in the month's best eleven for Antonis Georgiou
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Antonis Georgiou has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ermis have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
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.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Feb 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market25 Feb 2030
Only the photograph left for Labros Ioannou
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Labros Ioannou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ermis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Feb 2030
A muscle injury sidelines Dimitris Dimitriou for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ermis will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad25 Feb 2030
A falling-out at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Feb 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
“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.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
Dimitris Pinakas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ermis 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.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
Ben Winterburn asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market25 Feb 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miguel Rajani signs something — a contract at Ermis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Feb 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ermis have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match18 Feb 2030
Full time on the season at Ermis
Position 4 on 44 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Match16 Feb 2030
The wait goes on for Ermis
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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Ljubić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match16 Feb 2030
A bad afternoon for Ermis against Apollon
0‑2 to Apollon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
The manager makes an example of Ivan Ljubić
“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 dugout18 Feb 2030
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mario Simunovic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Feb 2030
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.
Match9 Feb 2030
Panagiotis Kattirtzis had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Ethnikos Achnas were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
A brace, and Christos Loukaidis takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christos Loukaidis provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.50, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Ivan Ljubić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Feb 2030
A season average of 7.43 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Ben Winterburn 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.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
Ermis asked and Anorthosis 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 terraces11 Feb 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Feb 2030
At 17, Antonis Georgiou is already the best thing here
An average of 6.58 in a first team he is several years too young for. Ermis have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Ermis close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
The deal with Slovan Bratislava 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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jovan Krneta and Ermis agree another 1 years.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Ermis
Panagiotis Kattirtzis 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 Feb 2030
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ljubić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match2 Feb 2030
A bad afternoon for Ermis against Omonoia
0‑2 to Omonoia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.