Position 10 and 6 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.
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 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 Ilioupoli know it.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ilioupoli can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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 The request is on a desk at Ilioupoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ilias Evangelou scored, was marked 7.42, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgos Tsilingiris will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ilioupoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Marked 7.62. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ilioupoli is running low.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a 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.
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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Zisis Chatzistravos is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ilioupoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli 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 Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The 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.” Emmanouil Georgiadis chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, 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.
The mood at Ilioupoli 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ilioupoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli 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 Ousmane Sountoura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alfredo Blancq-Cazaux has his answer from Ilioupoli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Ilioupoli will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Panionios in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Aris Thessaloniki go through and Ilioupoli 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.39 beside his name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.02, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
Boardroom120% of the income goes out in wages at Ilioupoli
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ilioupoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Iván Ortigoza 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Emmanouil Georgiadis was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ilioupoli dressing room was either.
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
Minute 91, against Olympiacos B, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout20 Sep 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.” Emmanouil Georgiadis chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgos Tsilingiris will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ilioupoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atromitos have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Hellas Syros had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gabriel Kodrasi is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levadiakos have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Belasitsa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about João Cardoso. The answer from Ilioupoli has not changed — yet.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ilioupoli will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
He is 19, and nobody at Ilioupoli signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panserraikos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ilioupoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Ilioupoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 18 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ilioupoli have done the hard part with Panetolikos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Michalis Kouiroukidis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Ilioupoli
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsJudah Garcia beats them one at a time
The offer from Suduva for João Cardoso 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.
Everything agreed with AEL Larisa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Nicolas Regazzoni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ilioupoli is running low.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Ilioupoli is enjoying the guessing.
The name of Giorgos Tsilingiris has come up in conversations Ilioupoli 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 Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Vangelis Keramidas has written the date down.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Ilioupoli and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Panetolikos is saying, and nobody at Ilioupoli is enjoying the guessing.
Everything agreed with Olympiacos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Sountoura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michalis Kouiroukidis signs something — a contract at Ilioupoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ilioupoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Still no offer on the table, and Vangelis Keramidas’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. Emmanouil Georgiadis has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Ilioupoli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Everything agreed with Atromitos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ilioupoli have made the call to Levadiakos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Ilias Kyritsis was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ilioupoli, another week without a signature from João Costa.
Position 8 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Everything agreed with Levadiakos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 Ousmane Sountoura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
BoardroomThe numbers do not look good at Ilioupoli
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$92.0K was the most the club would pay and Volos NPS were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Sountoura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ilioupoli have made the call to Panserraikos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Dimitris Thomaidis has written the date down.
OFI have accepted the money. What Ilioupoli do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ilioupoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
$470.0K on the table at Panetolikos. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other 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 Ilioupoli 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atromitos have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Belasitsa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about João Cardoso. The answer from Ilioupoli has not changed — yet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michalis Kouiroukidis signs something — a contract at Ilioupoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Emmanouil Georgiadis has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Egaleo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis 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. AEL Larisa have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nicolas Regazzoni 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 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Nicolas Regazzoni is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Position 8 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ilioupoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Suduva for João Cardoso 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.
Everybody at Ilioupoli saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Asteras have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Sountoura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ilioupoli is running low.
Everything agreed with Olympiacos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panetolikos have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$100.0K was the most the club would pay and Volos NPS were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marios Kostoulas 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 words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ilioupoli have done the hard part with Atromitos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ilioupoli asked and Panetolikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ilioupoli have gone to Volos NPS 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.
At 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Sountoura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ilioupoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nicolas Regazzoni has just signed for Ilioupoli, and for once the answer mattered.
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 is 18, and nobody at Ilioupoli signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
In brief
The dugoutIlias Kyritsis loses the manager who believed in him
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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. Lourenço Borges is living that version at Ilioupoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Sountoura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Judah Garcia is on it.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Darryl Geurts signs something — a contract at Ilioupoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michalis Kouiroukidis signs something — a contract at Ilioupoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
SquadAtkhana Ndao is not doing himself any favours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hakim Sahabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Emmanouil Georgiadis has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Darryl Geurts signs something — a contract at Ilioupoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and João Cardoso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ilioupoli is running low.
Alexandros Maskanakis 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hakim Sahabo 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 Ilioupoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Iván Ortigoza 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 Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ilioupoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ilioupoli can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Iván Ortigoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. João Costa is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Ilias Kyritsis's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Nobody at Ilioupoli will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ilioupoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ilioupoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Orestis Kreci 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ilioupoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 Ousmane Sountoura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Position 8 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Michalis Kouiroukidis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Hakim Sahabo 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.
“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; Ilioupoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Judah Garcia is on it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ilioupoli is running low.
“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 Ilioupoli know 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 Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Sountoura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ilioupoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mavroudis Bougaidis may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ilioupoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 Hakim Sahabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Emmanouil Georgiadis has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Position 8 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AEK is saying, and nobody at Ilioupoli is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Ilias Kyritsis is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Ilioupoli 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.
The deal with Asteras is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hakim Sahabo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEL Larisa have kept their man, and Ilioupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marios Kostoulas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 18 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilioupoli 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 Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alexandros Maskanakis.
Ilioupoli have made the call to Olympiacos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Position 8 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AEK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Sountoura 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.
Ilioupoli have made the call to AEL Larisa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to AEL Larisa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Emmanouil Georgiadis was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ilioupoli dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Kalamata defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
1‑4 to Chania, 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ilioupoli can pretend not to have heard.
Michalis Kouiroukidis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hakim Sahabo 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.
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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Emmanouil Georgiadis could afford to be generous.
Hakim Sahabo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ilioupoli can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Emmanouil Georgiadis was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ilioupoli dressing room was either.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dimitris Politis has his answer from Ilioupoli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Athens Kallithea? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Michalis Kouiroukidis’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ilioupoli needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ilioupoli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 9 and 13 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hakim Sahabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Panargiakos? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Michalis Kouiroukidis’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ilioupoli needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutDarryl Geurts wants a proper job in this side
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilioupoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Hakim Sahabo 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 Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Judah Garcia is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michalis Kouiroukidis provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Ilioupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Sountoura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Emmanouil Georgiadis could afford to be generous.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 Hakim Sahabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Iván Ortigoza 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ilioupoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Half the programme played, position 9, 8 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There 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.
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hakim Sahabo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a 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.
Miltos Innos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Roger Tamba is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Emmanouil Georgiadis after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chania 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 Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
15 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.93 beside his name.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 taken on 94 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.
Giorgos Maidanos 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.
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.
Michalis Kouiroukidis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Hakim Sahabo 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Ilioupoli will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
0‑3 to Athens Kallithea, 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Iván Ortigoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Hakim Sahabo 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.
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.
“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; Ilioupoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It finished 1-7. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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.
8 goals in one match, Themis Patrinos on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ilioupoli and Panathinaikos.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Michalis Kouiroukidis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Ilioupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hakim Sahabo 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.
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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Ilioupoli dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Emmanouil Georgiadis to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilioupoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Hakim Sahabo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Minute 94, against Hellas Syros, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Emmanouil Georgiadis after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at OFI is saying, and nobody at Ilioupoli is enjoying the guessing.
Hakim Sahabo 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 Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ilioupoli will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilioupoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The name of João Cardoso has come up in conversations Ilioupoli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Giorgos Maidanos 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.
15 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 Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Panathinaikos have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Egaleo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. João Cardoso is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ilioupoli have done the hard part with PAS Giannina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miltos Innos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Panathinaikos have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ilioupoli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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. Ilioupoli will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Michalis Kouiroukidis 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Grigorios Mandalos 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. Lazaros Alexiou 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. Evangelos Papastathopulos 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Panagiotis Pelkas 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Michalis Kouiroukidis and Ilioupoli agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Kouiroukidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.