0‑3 to Hércules, 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.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gimnàstic will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Tomás Castro Ponce was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Manu Hernando and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnàstic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gimnàstic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marcos Baselga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rueda 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 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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.” Francisco Campos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gimnàstic is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Cedric has agreed terms with Getafe for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Marcos Baselga and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Gimnàstic is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Julio González will call it something else in private.
The dugoutManu Hernando knocks on the manager's door
83Edition
The Gimnàstic Herald
28 Feb 2028
From our football correspondentUneasy
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Up for the corner, and Yuri Ribeiro delivers — 7.42
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yuri Ribeiro scored, was marked 7.42, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gimnàstic can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Albacete had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
7.84, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gimnàstic has been clear about where Pedro Alcalá stands, which is more than many ever get.
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against CE Europa; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Gimnàstic offered $1.5M; Osasuna said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Tomás Castro Ponce 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.
Gimnàstic asked and Tarazona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gimnàstic, and 5 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Osasuna 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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Gimnàstic close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 7 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Gimnàstic hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maximiliano Rueda and Gimnàstic agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gimnàstic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Gimnàstic asked and Tenerife said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Zaragoza have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mángel. The answer from Gimnàstic has not changed — yet.
The offer from Las Palmas for Cedric was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnàstic can pretend not to have heard.
Gimnàstic have gone to Osasuna 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.
Manu Hernando 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.
Gimnàstic asked and Zaragoza 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 offer from Getafe for Aitor Gelardo 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arenas Club waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gimnàstic is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gimnàstic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have shaken hands with Burgos; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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 Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gimnàstic have gone to Osasuna 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.
Tomás Castro Ponce 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The name of Sergio Camus has come up in conversations Gimnàstic were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rueda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Tomás Castro Ponce 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 phone has started ringing about Marc Montalvo again, and this time the name on the line is Osasuna. Gimnàstic are listening politely and promising nothing.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Gimnàstic asked and Atlético Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gimnàstic told Maximiliano Rueda something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
SquadEnes Sali falls out with a teammate over standards
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gimnàstic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
Tomás Castro Ponce 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rueda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gimnàstic can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gimnàstic lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rodrigo Fernández has just signed for Gimnàstic, and for once the answer mattered.
Manu Hernando was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rueda 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.
Something was said to Miguel Atienza and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnàstic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Marcos Baselga has written the date down.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gimnàstic lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnàstic can pretend not to have heard.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Jiménez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Francisco Campos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gimnàstic lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rueda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gimnàstic, and 3 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Hércules left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Francisco Campos to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gimnàstic lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Max scored in the 86th minute, Real Murcia had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Gimnàstic took the lot.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“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 Gimnàstic know it.
Marked 7.82 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Gimnàstic had the best player on the pitch.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enes Sali 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.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gimnàstic lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Villarreal B were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enes Sali is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Francisco Campos could afford to be generous.
“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 dugout22 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Yuri Ribeiro
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The 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.
“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 Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rueda is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomás Castro Ponce trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Villarreal B in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Gimnàstic would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Tomás Castro Ponce was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Gimnàstic who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Gimnàstic heard it as anything else.
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.
Tomás Castro Ponce 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.
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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
Something was said to Javi Rodríguez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enes Sali 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Gimnàstic are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gimnàstic has been clear about where Marc Montalvo stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Enes Sali, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Yuri Ribeiro
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Francisco Campos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against CE Europa? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
The dugoutMiguel Atienza asks for a word with the manager
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Manu Hernando 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rueda is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Javi Rodríguez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Tarazona defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gimnàstic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Maximiliano Rueda wants continental football; whether Gimnàstic can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Manu Hernando and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enes Sali is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sergio Camus’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gimnàstic needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Cedric has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnàstic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gimnàstic know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Sabadell spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Tomás Castro Ponce 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rueda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rueda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Gimnàstic know it.
7 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gimnàstic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gimnàstic has been clear about where Giva Santos stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enes Sali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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.
“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 Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Sergio Camus reports back to Gimnàstic with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Tomás Castro Ponce was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rueda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barcelona have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnàstic can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Deportivo La Coruña moved on, Marc Montalvo reports back to Gimnàstic, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Gimnàstic 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.
Marcos Baselga 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rueda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Castellón will make the call about Sergio Camus this week. Gimnàstic have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
Manu Hernando 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 phone has started ringing about Sergio Camus again, and this time the name on the line is Ponferradina. Gimnàstic are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gimnàstic has been clear about where Max stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enes Sali is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gimnàstic, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnàstic can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Eibar for Óscar Sanz 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.
Manu Hernando 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
“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; Gimnàstic are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rueda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pol Martínez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ibai Prieto 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnàstic can pretend not to have heard.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Tomás Castro Ponce was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enes Sali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Gimnàstic will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gimnàstic, another week without a signature from Óscar Sanz.
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 Marcos Baselga has written the date down.
Tomás Castro Ponce and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcos Baselga commits to Gimnàstic for another 3 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Giva Santos 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnàstic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” David Alba has his answer from Gimnàstic; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Still no offer on the table, and Marcos Baselga’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Francisco Campos has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
The mood at Gimnàstic 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.
The offer from Real Avilés for Jaume Jardí was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Tomás Castro Ponce and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market2 Aug 2027
Gimnàstic may not be able to give Max what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Max wants continental football; whether Gimnàstic can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcos Baselga commits to Gimnàstic for another 3 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giva Santos is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Gimnàstic will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“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 Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Real Avilés have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jaume Jardí. The answer from Gimnàstic has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rueda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Gimnàstic know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“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 Gimnàstic know it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jaume Jardí trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 18 and 35 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.
Aitor Gelardo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Albacete have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Enes Sali 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aitor Gelardo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Gimnàstic will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Gimnàstic know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The chase for Javi Rodríguez ended with $16.3M changing hands and Celta out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$14.0M was the most the club would pay and Valencia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The fee is $590.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Cultural Leonesa drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Gimnàstic have gone to Mérida with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Madrid have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Celta have accepted the money. What Gimnàstic do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Francisco Campos has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Everything agreed with Cultural Leonesa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“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 Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Manu Hernando 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.
Gimnàstic asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadSergio Camus falls out with a teammate over standards
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Córdoba have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Gimnàstic had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Real Sociedad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The offer went to Mérida this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Sergio Camus 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.
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.
Position 18 and 35 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.
“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 Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gimnàstic offered $2.4M; Athletic Bilbao said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Everything agreed with Real Sociedad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“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; Gimnàstic are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Espanyol have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gimnàstic have gone to Athletic Bilbao 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gimnàstic have done the hard part with Mirandés, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Marcos Miers for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Gimnàstic will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gimnàstic can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The offer from Marbella for Jaume Jardí was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnàstic can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mérida have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Tomás Castro Ponce and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomás Castro Ponce trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Gimnàstic enter the window
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gimnàstic can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Keyliane Abdallah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gimnàstic. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 18 and 35 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.
Tomás Castro Ponce was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gimnàstic can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 35 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
0‑1 to Alcorcón, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“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.
Manu Hernando 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 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gimnàstic told Giva Santos something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gimnàstic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Manu Hernando 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gimnàstic can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Francisco Campos after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Gimnàstic pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
7.56, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Tomás Castro Ponce was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gimnàstic can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miguel Atienza. 1‑0 against Sanluqueño, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnàstic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Diego Guerra
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gimnàstic can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Francisco Campos to a room that had heard them before.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
0‑1 to Hércules, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gimnàstic can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everybody at Gimnàstic saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jaume Jardí trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gimnàstic can tell you which week it ends in.
Manu Hernando and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gimnàstic told Manu Hernando something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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 Gimnàstic know it.
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.
Manu Hernando 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.
0‑1 to Villarreal B, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnàstic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Manu Hernando 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.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 18-year-old at Gimnàstic who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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 Francisco Campos to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Rubén Alves
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnàstic can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
David Alba 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.
Aitor Gelardo 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Marc Montalvo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Gimnàstic.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Francisco Campos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Gimnàstic know it.
Gimnàstic asked and Espanyol 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Max, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Francisco Campos was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gimnàstic dressing room was either.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Feirense had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Racing Club is saying, and nobody at Gimnàstic is enjoying the guessing.
Maguette Guèye 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Villarreal have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and CE Europa were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The bid was some way short and Gimnàstic did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Gimnàstic close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 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.
Gimnàstic had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at River Plate, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 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.
Add another name to the list: Ujpest have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about José Barrios. The answer from Gimnàstic has not changed — yet.
$3.4M was the most the club would pay and Almería were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Tomás Castro Ponce 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Gimnàstic may not be able to give Max what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Max wants continental football; whether Gimnàstic can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Gimnàstic asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gimnàstic can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad25 Jan 2027
9 new faces, and Gimnàstic are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Gimnàstic offered $10.1M; Valencia said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Gimnàstic asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Position 16, 19 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Gimnàstic know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Gimnàstic have gone to Almería 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Club have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnàstic can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Enyimba for Cedric 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gimnàstic have done the hard part with Racing Santander, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Aitor Gelardo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Azkue is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A loan enquiry to Cultural Leonesa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Aitor Gelardo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Octavio Vázquez is living that version at Gimnàstic, and it tends to show in the first month.
Eldense made Gimnàstic work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Giva Santos's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gimnàstic can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Calebe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Moisés Delgado has his answer from Gimnàstic; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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; Gimnàstic are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gimnàstic, another week without a signature from Max.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gimnàstic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gimnàstic can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Giva Santos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mángel commits to Gimnàstic for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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.” Francisco Campos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Fábio has, at Gimnàstic, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Giva Santos 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gimnàstic told Enzo López something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market23 Nov 2026
Gimnàstic may not be able to give Max what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Max wants continental football; whether Gimnàstic can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
He is 19 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diego Guerra. 1‑0 against Villarreal B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gimnàstic, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Villarreal B in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gimnàstic. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Gimnàstic have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Málaga go through and Gimnàstic go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Aitor Gelardo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Francisco Campos left the room before anybody could ask which.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Angel Yondjo has just signed for Gimnàstic, and for once the answer mattered.
Saúl Del Cerro 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gimnàstic can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Francisco Campos after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Ibiza defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
“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; Gimnàstic are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Giva Santos has just signed for Gimnàstic, and for once the answer mattered.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Saúl Del Cerro 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.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJosé Barrios knocks on the manager’s door
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gimnàstic can tell you which week it ends in.
Aitor Gelardo 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 Oct 2026
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Tarazona? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutJosé Barrios knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gimnàstic can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Del Cerro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Francisco Campos after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sergio Camus’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gimnàstic needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody at Gimnàstic is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gimnàstic can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Gimnàstic game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Castellón runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Francisco Campos left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Atlético Madrileño next, and one man in the Gimnàstic dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
“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 Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gimnàstic asked and Estudiantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Francisco Campos left the room before anybody could ask which.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Huesca have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Gimnàstic 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Gimnàstic know which stage they are at.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aitor Gelardo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Enzo López has moved up it.
Sevilla Atlético next, and one man in the Gimnàstic dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The offer went to Sevilla 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gimnàstic have done the hard part with Estudiantes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$390.0K was the most the club would pay and Albacete were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mángel 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.
“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 Gimnàstic, and it is not being withdrawn.
$460.0K was the most the club would pay and Málaga were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Miguel Pabón and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Gimnàstic have made the call to Estudiantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Gimnàstic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Camus 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $489.5K — a club that wants Ramón Enríquez enough to be asked twice.
Gimnàstic asked and Real Sociedad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Aitor Gelardo 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Gimnàstic are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saúl Del Cerro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Miguel Pabón is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gimnàstic people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Gimnàstic had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sporting CP, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The offer went to Málaga this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnàstic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Víctor Gómez 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Rojas 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Raúl Solís 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Moreirense have kept their man, and Gimnàstic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Aitor Gelardo 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 name of Enric Pujol has come up in conversations Gimnàstic were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A loan enquiry to Paris Saint-Germain: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gimnàstic, another week without a signature from Pedro Alcalá.
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.