From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 Nov 2032
The mood at Ermis has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Leontios Kalaitzis 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 Nov 2032
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Parras 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.
Match27 Nov 2032
Anorthosis left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 Nov 2032
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
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 Leontios Kalaitzis is on it.
Player ratings29 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Nov 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Match20 Nov 2032
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ermis and Apollon in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match20 Nov 2032
Apollon left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match22 Nov 2032
Halfway: Ermis sit in position 13
9 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout22 Nov 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Nov 2032
The manager makes an example of Jason Loizou
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Gustavo Nogueira 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 dugout22 Nov 2032
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2032
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Nov 2032
Ermis sink to position 13
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings15 Nov 2032
Michalis Laifis, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad15 Nov 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Alexandros Parras 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.
Match13 Nov 2032
Three points for Ermis, 2‑1 the final word against Ethnikos Achnas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces15 Nov 2032
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Michalis Laifis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivaylo Naydenov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Nov 2032
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 Nov 2032
A hiding for Ermis
Beaten 0‑3 by Omonoia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad8 Nov 2032
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad8 Nov 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Leontios Kalaitzis commits to Ermis for another 3 years.
Squad8 Nov 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Leontios Kalaitzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
Nobody left the Ermis dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings8 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout8 Nov 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout8 Nov 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivaylo Naydenov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2032
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces1 Nov 2032
Anger at Ermis spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad1 Nov 2032
9 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.
Match30 Oct 2032
Ermis throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Doxa the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Ermis will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings1 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Leontios Kalaitzis 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 ratings1 Nov 2032
Labros Ioannou was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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 ratings1 Nov 2032
Marked 8.03 — 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.
Match30 Oct 2032
Ermis share the spoils with Doxa
A 2‑2 draw with Doxa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Oct 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandros Parras
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings25 Oct 2032
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Oct 2032
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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 ratings25 Oct 2032
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match23 Oct 2032
Three points for Ermis, 3‑1 the final word against Agia Napa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
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.” Interim Coach, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Looking ahead25 Oct 2032
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Doxa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandros Parras
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match18 Oct 2032
Every point is an argument now for Ermis
Position 14 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad18 Oct 2032
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.
Match16 Oct 2032
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.
Match16 Oct 2032
A bad afternoon for Ermis against AEL
0‑1 to AEL, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Oct 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jason Stylianou and Ermis agree another 3 years.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
Daniel Gomes gets picked when it counts
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 Daniel Gomes is on it.
Player ratings18 Oct 2032
Successful dribbles: 10. 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
Crisis
Squad11 Oct 2032
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match9 Oct 2032
Ermis taken apart
0‑3 to APOEL, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad11 Oct 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Leontios Kalaitzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Oct 2032
Inquest at Ermis
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2032
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AEL in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
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 Valentinos Artymatas is on it.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
Philip Allentoft 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2032
Alexandros Parras damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match29 Sep 2032
Ermis march on in the cup
AEL are out and Ermis go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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 terraces4 Oct 2032
He is 20 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.
Match2 Oct 2032
Ermis come up short against Aris
Aris left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Oct 2032
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings4 Oct 2032
Marked 7.93 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 dugout4 Oct 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Ioannis Ioannou named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ioannis Ioannou is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandros Parras
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom27 Sep 2032
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match25 Sep 2032
7 matches without a win for Ermis
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Ermis are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Match25 Sep 2032
Nea Salamis left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings27 Sep 2032
Ninety minutes of Labros Ioannou at his very best
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Squad27 Sep 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valentinos Artymatas and Ermis agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandros Parras
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match18 Sep 2032
6 matches without a win for Ermis
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Ermis are no longer polite ones.
Squad20 Sep 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Sep 2032
Late, late show earns Ermis a point
Minute 92, against Paralimni, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match18 Sep 2032
A 2‑2 draw with Paralimni leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Michalis Laifis, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Ermis would like this to lead.
Player ratings20 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2032
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match11 Sep 2032
The wait goes on for Ermis
5 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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
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 targets13 Sep 2032
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 Sep 2032
AE Kition left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Sep 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Philip Allentoft and Ermis agree another 3 years.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market13 Sep 2032
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andreas Zachariou has his answer from Ermis; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2032
Alexandros Parras damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 8 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.
Match4 Sep 2032
No end in sight to Ermis's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ermis has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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 targets6 Sep 2032
Ermis asked and Aris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Still nobody in the Ermis dugout
13 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2032
The window shuts on the Leonardo Vides deal
Ermis ran out of time with AEL. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad6 Sep 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ioannis Ioannou and Ermis agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings6 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Dimitris Dimitriou damages knee ligaments — 96 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 96 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
Ermis have nobody left to take training
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2032
The deal with Agia Napa 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.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
12 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.
Market30 Aug 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fotis Antoniou 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.
Market30 Aug 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Constantinos Laifis 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2032
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2032
Everything agreed with Anorthosis, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad23 Aug 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nea Salamis have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout23 Aug 2032
Jason Stylianou 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
The Ermis academy earns its keep
62 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
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2032
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom16 Aug 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Ermis
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ermis is running low.
Squad16 Aug 2032
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 Aug 2032
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 dugout16 Aug 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market16 Aug 2032
The name of Dimitris Dimitriou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
Market16 Aug 2032
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ermis has been clear about where Christos Kastanos stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
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 Marios Demetriou is on it.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2032
Dimitris Dimitriou damages knee ligaments — 117 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 117 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
$310.0K settles it between the clubs for Tamás Kiss
Anorthosis 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.
Market9 Aug 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
Ermis have gone to AEL 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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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 targets9 Aug 2032
Ermis asked and APOEL 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 dugout9 Aug 2032
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 dugout9 Aug 2032
Giannis Saregos 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 dugout9 Aug 2032
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Alexandros Parras plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2032
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
Emergency meeting at Ermis
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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 targets2 Aug 2032
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 targets2 Aug 2032
A loan move for Andrii Vasin is in the works
Ermis have made the call to Agia Napa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout2 Aug 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giannis Saregos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout2 Aug 2032
Giorgos Kolias without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Giorgos Kolias was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Boardroom2 Aug 2032
The Ermis dressing room answers
Whatever was said behind that door, it worked: the pressing is back, the arguing has stopped, and the manager’s job is being defended in the only language that counts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2032
Dimitris Dimitriou damages knee ligaments — 131 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 131 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
The clubs have shaken hands with AEL; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad26 Jul 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christos Loizou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Boardroom26 Jul 2032
Ermis keep producing them
62 graduates from an academy now rated 7 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Dimitris Dimitriou’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2032
Dimitris Dimitriou damages knee ligaments — 138 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 138 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
Pressure builds in the Ermis boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad19 Jul 2032
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 targets19 Jul 2032
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 Jul 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad19 Jul 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andre Pinto and Ermis agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2032
Nea Salamis 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.
Market19 Jul 2032
The name of Dimitris Dimitriou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
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 Marios Demetriou is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2032
Dimitris Dimitriou damages knee ligaments — 145 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 145 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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 targets12 Jul 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. APOEL have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2032
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
Ermis have made the call to AE Kition. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout12 Jul 2032
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 Leontios Kalaitzis is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2032
Alexandros Parras damages knee ligaments — 130 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 130 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2032
Fee done, terms next for Robert Ergas
Ermis and Aris have settled on $330.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market5 Jul 2032
Ermis say no — this time
The offer from Dinamo Tbilisi for Nektarios Pittas 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 Jul 2032
22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad5 Jul 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivaylo Naydenov and Ermis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
6 new boys at the Ermis academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The dugout5 Jul 2032
Jason Loizou 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2032
Andre Pinto 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
Ermis had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ethnikos Achnas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad28 Jun 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Parras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
The Ermis production line keeps running
62 graduates out of an academy now rated 7 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 Jun 2032
Pressure builds in the Ermis boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2032
Everything agreed with Anorthosis, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2032
Ermis had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Doxa, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad21 Jun 2032
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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Alexandros Parras 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 dugout21 Jun 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout21 Jun 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giannis Saregos, and the manager let it.
Market21 Jun 2032
The name of Dimitris Dimitriou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout21 Jun 2032
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 Marios Demetriou is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stelios Antoniou
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Jun 2032
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 targets14 Jun 2032
The deal with Aris 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AE Kition is saying, and nobody at Ermis is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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 targets14 Jun 2032
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.
Squad14 Jun 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Philip Allentoft commits to Ermis for another 3 years.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
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 Leontios Kalaitzis is on it.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
Giannis Saregos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2032
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ermis have done the hard part with AE Kition, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Jun 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Christos Papadimitriou commits to Ermis for another 2 years.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Alexandros Parras 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.
Market7 Jun 2032
The phone has started ringing about Andre Pinto again, and this time the name on the line is Nea Salamis. Ermis are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
A loan enquiry to AE Kition: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
Marios Laifis 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
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2032
Nélson Campali breaks a bone — 103 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad31 May 2032
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 May 2032
“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.
Squad31 May 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2032
Alexandros Parras 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 dugout31 May 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christos Kastanos, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 May 2032
Anger at Ermis spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom24 May 2032
Pressure builds in the Ermis boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad24 May 2032
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.
Squad24 May 2032
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.
The dugout24 May 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad24 May 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jason Loizou and Ermis agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market24 May 2032
Michalis Makris is 17, and Ermis have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad24 May 2032
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.
Market24 May 2032
The name of Dimitris Dimitriou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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 May 2032
Alexandros Parras 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 dugout17 May 2032
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
Market10 May 2032
“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.
The dugout10 May 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad10 May 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 May 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The dugout3 May 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad3 May 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dimitris Dimitriou commits to Ermis for another 2 years.
Squad3 May 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2032
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2032
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Savvas Christodoulou was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 2032
Supporters organise against the Ermis board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
“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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
Pressure builds in the Ermis boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad26 Apr 2032
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Ivaylo Naydenov
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Ermis will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad26 Apr 2032
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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
“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.
Market26 Apr 2032
The name of Dimitris Dimitriou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
Diego Martínez 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2032
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Parras 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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Andreas Kastanos, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
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 Leontios Kalaitzis is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2032
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Apr 2032
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2032
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout5 Apr 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad5 Apr 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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
Uneasy
The terraces29 Mar 2032
Anger at Ermis spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Ermis
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ermis is running low.
Squad29 Mar 2032
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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Parras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market29 Mar 2032
The name of Dimitris Dimitriou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
Nélson Campali 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 Nélson Campali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
The training reports on Alexandros Parras are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The Ermis academy earns its keep
62 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
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2032
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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2032
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.
Market15 Mar 2032
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2032
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.
Market8 Mar 2032
“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 Mar 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad8 Mar 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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 Mar 2032
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Parras 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.
Squad8 Mar 2032
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ermis know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2032
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.
The terraces1 Mar 2032
Anger at Ermis spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
Pressure builds in the Ermis boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Sander Coopman 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
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.
Market1 Mar 2032
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 dugout1 Mar 2032
Diego Martínez 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Feb 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match23 Feb 2032
Ermis finish in position 11
26 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings23 Feb 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.61, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match21 Feb 2032
A bad afternoon for Ermis against Apollon
3‑5 to Apollon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Feb 2032
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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
12 goals and a season average of 7.37. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match21 Feb 2032
8 goals in one match, Savvas Christodoulou on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ermis and Apollon.
Player ratings23 Feb 2032
Labros Ioannou was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. 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
Squad16 Feb 2032
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.
Market16 Feb 2032
“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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Alexandros Parras 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 dugout16 Feb 2032
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Match14 Feb 2032
Ethnikos Achnas left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Feb 2032
33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout16 Feb 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings16 Feb 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Feb 2032
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.
Market9 Feb 2032
“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.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout9 Feb 2032
“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.
The dugout9 Feb 2032
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Squad9 Feb 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Labros Ioannou 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 ratings9 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Sander Coopman 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.
Match7 Feb 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Labros Ioannou. 1‑0 against Omonoia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Feb 2032
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 terraces2 Feb 2032
The mood at Ermis has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Window shuts: 0 in, 2 out at Ermis
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The dugout2 Feb 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ermis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Labros Ioannou was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Feb 2032
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Stelios Antoniou is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Ermis will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout2 Feb 2032
“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.
Player ratings2 Feb 2032
Marked 7.73 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ermis had the best player on the pitch.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 86% of the Ermis income
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The dugout
Interim Coach: “We have to be better”
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Match
Ermis and Doxa cancel each other out
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jan 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Jan 2032
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Agia Napa, and it could have been more.
Player ratings26 Jan 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad26 Jan 2032
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.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Alexandros Parras 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 Jan 2032
10 goals and a season average of 7.30 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings26 Jan 2032
A performance of 8.54 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market26 Jan 2032
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ermis have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jan 2032
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 targets19 Jan 2032
The offer went to Apollon this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Jan 2032
It finished 2‑0, and it was Labros Ioannou’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ermis.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Ninety minutes of Labros Ioannou at his very best
Marked 8.41. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Marked 8.33. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Squad19 Jan 2032
9 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Looking ahead19 Jan 2032
Everything rides on Agia Napa
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Ermis know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jan 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Jan 2032
Every point is an argument now for Ermis
Position 12 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
Everything agreed with Pafos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout12 Jan 2032
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Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
Ermis had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AE Kition, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Words exchanged at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad12 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Jan 2032
8 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jan 2032
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.
Match3 Jan 2032
A hiding for Ermis
Beaten 1‑4 by Aris, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The terraces5 Jan 2032
Anger at Ermis spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market5 Jan 2032
“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.
The dugout5 Jan 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ermis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Tempers go at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Parras 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.
Squad5 Jan 2032
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ermis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match3 Jan 2032
Ermis leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Dec 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad29 Dec 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.
Match27 Dec 2031
Three points for Ermis, 3‑2 the final word against Nea Salamis in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Coopman 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 dugout29 Dec 2031
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Player ratings29 Dec 2031
Marked 8.42. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Dec 2031
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.
Match20 Dec 2031
Chastening afternoon for Ermis
A 0‑3 beating by Paralimni was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Dec 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Labros Ioannou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead22 Dec 2031
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Ermis know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Market22 Dec 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nélson Campali has his answer from Ermis; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nélson Campali, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
Inquest at Ermis
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Dec 2031
Every point is an argument now for Ermis
Position 12 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market15 Dec 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.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad15 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Labros Ioannou 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 Dec 2031
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Parras 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 dugout15 Dec 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 ratings15 Dec 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Dec 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandros Parras and Ermis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Labros Ioannou 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 Dec 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Match6 Dec 2031
Ermis come up short against Pafos
Pafos left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Dec 2031
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.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Looking ahead8 Dec 2031
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AE Kition in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market8 Dec 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 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 Marios Demetriou is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 Dec 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.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Market1 Dec 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Sander Coopman has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ermis.
Match29 Nov 2031
Three points for Ermis, 1‑0 the final word against Anorthosis in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad1 Dec 2031
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.
The dugout1 Dec 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 Nélson Campali has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Nov 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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Nov 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Parras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Nov 2031
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.
Match24 Nov 2031
Halfway: Ermis sit in position 12
9 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout24 Nov 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 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 is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Nov 2031
Every point is an argument now for Ermis
Position 12 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market17 Nov 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.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ermis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Coopman 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.
Match15 Nov 2031
Ethnikos Achnas left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout17 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad10 Nov 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 Nov 2031
Ermis get the job done against Omonoia
A 2‑1 win over Omonoia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match8 Nov 2031
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Labros Ioannou was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
Ioannis Ioannou 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match1 Nov 2031
The wait goes on for Ermis
5 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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sander Coopman commits to Ermis for another 2 years.
Squad3 Nov 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Leontios Kalaitzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Alexandros Parras 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 ratings3 Nov 2031
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Nov 2031
A place in the month's best eleven for Michalis Laifis
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Michalis Laifis has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ermis have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match1 Nov 2031
It needed Savvas Christodoulou to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Doxa, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
A promise honoured at Ermis
Something was said to Nélson Campali and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Oct 2031
Ermis throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Agia Napa the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Ermis will enjoy reviewing.
Squad27 Oct 2031
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match25 Oct 2031
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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Labros Ioannou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match25 Oct 2031
A bad afternoon for Ermis against Agia Napa
3‑4 to Agia Napa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Sander Coopman 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 ratings27 Oct 2031
A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout27 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 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.
Match20 Oct 2031
Ermis are in real trouble now
Position 12, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Labros Ioannou 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 Oct 2031
Alexandros Parras 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.
Match18 Oct 2031
3 matches without a goal for Ermis
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match18 Oct 2031
A bad afternoon for Ermis against AEL
0‑1 to AEL, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Oct 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marios Demetriou and Ermis agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout20 Oct 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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings20 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Leontios Kalaitzis 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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Alexandros Parras 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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ermis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match11 Oct 2031
APOEL take the points off Ermis
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout13 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.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
Diego Martínez 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.
Looking ahead13 Oct 2031
AEL next, and one man in the Ermis dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad13 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Oct 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Labros Ioannou and Ermis agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Oct 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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Match4 Oct 2031
Ermis come up short against Aris
Aris left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
The manager makes an example of Nélson Campali
“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 dugout6 Oct 2031
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Looking ahead6 Oct 2031
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Michalis Koukou’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ermis needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Sep 2031
Ermis bow out of the cup
Pafos go through and Ermis go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match27 Sep 2031
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Ermis found something the first half had given no notice of, and Nea Salamis could not hold what they had.
Player ratings29 Sep 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad29 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Sep 2031
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match27 Sep 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leontios Kalaitzis. 3‑2 against Nea Salamis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Sander Coopman 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 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.
Player ratings29 Sep 2031
Labros Ioannou was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Sep 2031
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match20 Sep 2031
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.
Match20 Sep 2031
Ermis cannot find the net
5 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.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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 Sep 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Parras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match20 Sep 2031
A bad afternoon for Ermis against Paralimni
0‑1 to Paralimni, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Sep 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Philip Allentoft and Ermis agree another 4 years.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Sep 2031
Chastening afternoon for Ermis
A 0‑4 beating by AE Kition was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match13 Sep 2031
4 matches without a win for Ermis
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ermis are no longer polite ones.
Match13 Sep 2031
4 matches without a goal for Ermis
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Labros Ioannou 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Coopman 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 dugout15 Sep 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Martínez, and the manager let it.
Boardroom15 Sep 2031
Doors closed at Ermis
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout15 Sep 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 0‑4 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 5 saves does not settle it either way.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Sep 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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Match6 Sep 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.
Transfer targets8 Sep 2031
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Ermis will try again when the window opens; Apollon may not be selling by then.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ioannis Ioannou and Ermis agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Marked 7.45 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 Sep 2031
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
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.
Match6 Sep 2031
Ermis draw a blank against Pafos
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Pafos defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
Ermis and Apollon have settled on $76.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 8 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.
Squad1 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
The clock did what APOEL would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad1 Sep 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Parras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stelios Antoniou and Ermis agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout1 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 Leontios Kalaitzis is on it.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“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.
Market1 Sep 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gustavo Nogueira has his answer from Ermis; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Aug 2031
A fracture rules Joao Pacheco out for 20 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 targets25 Aug 2031
The clubs have shaken hands with APOEL; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets25 Aug 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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
7 academy graduates step up at Ermis
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Market25 Aug 2031
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Andreas Merkis 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Valentinos Ioannou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Aug 2031
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Valentinos Loizou 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
Pressure builds in the Ermis boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad18 Aug 2031
27 days out for Joao Pacheco 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.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
$1.1M settles it between the clubs for Pedro Ataíde
APOEL 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Aug 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andreas Zachariou and Ermis agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Aug 2031
A fracture rules Joao Pacheco out for 34 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
At 23 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.
Squad11 Aug 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Alexandros Parras 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 dugout11 Aug 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andreas Zachariou, and the manager let it.
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.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
Stelios Antoniou 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.
Market11 Aug 2031
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. David Ben-Lulu leaves Ermis the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Boardroom11 Aug 2031
The Ermis academy earns its keep
55 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
Uneasy
Squad4 Aug 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Martínez
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Joao Pacheco breaks a bone — 41 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
Emergency meeting at Ermis
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. APOEL have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Aug 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Coopman 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 dugout4 Aug 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 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jul 2031
Diego Martínez damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market28 Jul 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.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
The deal with APOEL 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
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Jul 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicholas Artymatas and Ermis agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Martínez
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ermis
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Alexandros Parras 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 dugout21 Jul 2031
Nélson Campali 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 dugout21 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Martínez
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
$1.1M settles it between the clubs for Pedro Ataíde
APOEL 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Philip Allentoft is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad14 Jul 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Sander Coopman 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 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Ermis keep producing them
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The dugout
Dimitris Dimitriou keeps his manager's vote
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Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at Ermis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Martínez
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ermis can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Emergency meeting at Ermis
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Jul 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.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. APOEL have kept their man, and Ermis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jul 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Coopman 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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
5 new boys at the Ermis academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The dugout7 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jun 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Martínez
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Jun 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.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
The deal with APOEL 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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Philip Allentoft and Ermis agree another 3 years.
Squad30 Jun 2031
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ermis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Jun 2031
Diego Martínez damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces23 Jun 2031
Supporters organise against the Ermis board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom23 Jun 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ermis
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
The deal with AE Kition 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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Giannis Saregos, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Jun 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Martínez
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
Everything agreed with APOEL, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad16 Jun 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Squad16 Jun 2031
The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for Ioannis Ioannou, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market16 Jun 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.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andreas Zachariou, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
Marios Demetriou 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 dugout16 Jun 2031
The manager makes Andre Pinto a promise
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.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Ermis academy earns its keep
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Leontios Kalaitzis
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Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at Ermis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jun 2031
Diego Martínez damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market9 Jun 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.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
Ermis had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AE Kition, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Jun 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Leontios Kalaitzis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Jun 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Parras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Leontios Kalaitzis is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jun 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Martínez
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market2 Jun 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.
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
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Coopman 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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ermis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
Ermis can sign again
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 May 2031
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces26 May 2031
The mood at Ermis has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom26 May 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Ermis
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ermis is running low.
Squad26 May 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad26 May 2031
Sander Coopman 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 dugout26 May 2031
Giannis Saregos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 May 2031
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 May 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.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Parras 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 dugout19 May 2031
Marios Demetriou 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 dugout19 May 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Valentinos Artymatas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Boardroom19 May 2031
The Ermis production line keeps running
55 graduates out of an academy now rated 7 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 May 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Martínez
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 May 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.
Squad12 May 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 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 dugout12 May 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stelios Antoniou, and the manager let it.
Market12 May 2031
The name of Dimitris Dimitriou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 May 2031
Diego Martínez damages knee ligaments — 105 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 105 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom5 May 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad5 May 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandros Parras and Ermis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 May 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Coopman 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 dugout5 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Apr 2031
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ermis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces28 Apr 2031
The mood at Ermis has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom28 Apr 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ermis
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout28 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Apr 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Parras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Apr 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Martínez
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Apr 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Coopman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch21 Apr 2031
“I watch every Ermis game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Omonoia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
Marios Demetriou 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 dugout21 Apr 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andreas Zachariou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Apr 2031
Diego Martínez damages knee ligaments — 126 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 126 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad14 Apr 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Apr 2031
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ermis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Market14 Apr 2031
The name of Dimitris Dimitriou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Apr 2031
Diego Martínez damages knee ligaments — 133 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 133 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
Giannis Saregos: 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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sander Coopman and Ermis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 Mar 2031
Supporters organise against the Ermis board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom31 Mar 2031
Pressure builds in the Ermis boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christos Loizou, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Mar 2031
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ermis will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Mar 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Loan watch24 Mar 2031
“I watch every Ermis game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Omonoia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout24 Mar 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 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 Marios Demetriou is on it.
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.
Squad24 Mar 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.
The dugout24 Mar 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.
The dugout24 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Ermis production line keeps running
-
Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at Ermis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Mar 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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Alexandros Parras 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 dugout17 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 Leontios Kalaitzis is on it.
Market17 Mar 2031
The name of Dimitris Dimitriou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ermis say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Valentinos Artymatas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Ioannis Ioannou is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Mar 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Mar 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
“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.
The dugout10 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.
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 Stelios Antoniou has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces3 Mar 2031
Anger at Ermis spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ermis
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout3 Mar 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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Ioannis Ioannou named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ioannis Ioannou is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Feb 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Parras 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Loan watch24 Feb 2031
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Ermis, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout24 Feb 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.
Market24 Feb 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Feb 2031
The season ends: position 10 for Ermis
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 30 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market17 Feb 2031
Sofian Bouzian 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.
Transfer targets17 Feb 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.
Squad17 Feb 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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Match15 Feb 2031
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 dugout17 Feb 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dimitris Dimitriou, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
Sander Coopman, 36, rolls back the years — 8.34
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.34 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Tempers go at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 Feb 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Labros Ioannou. 2‑0 against Ethnikos Achnas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match8 Feb 2031
Ermis keep winning on the road
3 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 ratings10 Feb 2031
Labros Ioannou was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.44. 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 ratings10 Feb 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 Feb 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ioannis Ioannou and Ermis agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces3 Feb 2031
Supporters organise against the Ermis board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ermis
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout3 Feb 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.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Ermis close the window on a squad of their own making
1 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 targets3 Feb 2031
The offer went to Ethnikos Achnas this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Parras 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 ratings3 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Jan 2031
3‑0, and Savvas Christodoulou took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ermis tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market27 Jan 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.
Player ratings27 Jan 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings27 Jan 2031
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.24, and nobody on the pitch better.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ethnikos Achnas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
The deal with Paralimni died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Squad27 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Ermis
Dimitris Dimitriou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Boardroom27 Jan 2031
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Santiago Blanco has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Ermis have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
The deal with Paralimni 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.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Ermis asked and Ethnikos Achnas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 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.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Sander Coopman 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.
Match18 Jan 2031
Agia Napa made Ermis work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nélson Campali, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Jan 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joao Pacheco and Ermis agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Jan 2031
Chastening afternoon for Ermis
A 1‑4 beating by AEL was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
$1.1M 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 targets13 Jan 2031
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AE Kition keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Leontios Kalaitzis 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 ratings13 Jan 2031
Labros Ioannou ran the middle of the pitch — 7.93
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.93, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad13 Jan 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Parras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Jan 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.
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
Nobody left the Ermis dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Jan 2031
The mood at Ermis has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Transfer targets6 Jan 2031
The deal with AE Kition 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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Words exchanged at Ermis
Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
A row about effort at Ermis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sander Coopman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match4 Jan 2031
Ermis come up short against APOEL
APOEL left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad6 Jan 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Gomes commits to Ermis for another 2 years.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.