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 young player of the month award goes to a 22-year-old at Kampaniakos who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kostas Kostoulas is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
That is the business done at Kampaniakos 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.
Kampaniakos asked and Panionios said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Antonis Dermitzakis 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.
A loan enquiry to Anagennisi Karditsa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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. Mamadou Gning has moved up it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kampaniakos have done the hard part with PAOK, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Cyril Zabou 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 Kostas Kostoulas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kampaniakos asked and Spartak Subotica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Kampaniakos have made the call to Panionios. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Kampaniakos have made the call to Asteras. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kampaniakos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Kampaniakos and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.61 for the rest of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kampaniakos have done the hard part with Egaleo, 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 Kampaniakos 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 Kostas Kostoulas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kampaniakos have made the call to Anagennisi Karditsa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kampaniakos have done the hard part with Asteras, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Kampaniakos is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Anagennisi Karditsa 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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kampaniakos have done the hard part with Olympiacos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dimitris Karadalis is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Cyril Zabou 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kostas Kostoulas has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
Position 8 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kostas Kostoulas 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 Kampaniakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
151% of the income goes out in wages at Kampaniakos
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 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 manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Kampaniakos squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
A side in position 2 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Kampaniakos scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Kampaniakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kostas Kostoulas 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and PAS Giannina were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against PAOK B in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Cyril Zabou 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Kelvin Lamptey-Mills and Kampaniakos agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Cyril Zabou was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Anastasios Giakoumakis after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kostas Kostoulas did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kampaniakos 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kampaniakos can tell you which week it ends in.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kostas Kostoulas has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout23 Nov 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.” Anastasios Giakoumakis chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kavala in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Stathis Sarvanidis has written the date down.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Anastasios Giakoumakis after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Anagennisi Karditsa defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Position 6, 11 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
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.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kampaniakos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Kampaniakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kostas Kostoulas 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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Anastasios Giakoumakis after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Christos Tachmatzidis has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Anagennisi Karditsa next, and one man in the Kampaniakos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Kampaniakos 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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Nestos Chrysoupoli will replay every second of the added time for a week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christos Tachmatzidis provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kostas Kostoulas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Christos Tachmatzidis. 2‑1 against Nestos Chrysoupoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Dimitris Karadalis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Something was said to Kostas Kostoulas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kampaniakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kampaniakos told Marios Tsaousis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Marked 7.36 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Kampaniakos had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Anastasios Giakoumakis chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kampaniakos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Cyril Zabou and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Kampaniakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kostas Kostoulas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Something was said to Mamadou Gning and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Cyril Zabou 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kostas Kostoulas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Kampaniakos are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kampaniakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Anastasios Giakoumakis on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The 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. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Kampaniakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Kampaniakos had all but put away. Makedonikos will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Paris Ntoumanis 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Anastasios Giakoumakis was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Kampaniakos dressing room was either.
“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.
“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 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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Giorgos Garyfallos’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kampaniakos needing him to play as if none of it matters.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Kampaniakos has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
That is the business done at Kampaniakos 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 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Kampaniakos 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.
Antonis Dermitzakis 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Kampaniakos than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Iraklis next, and one man in the Kampaniakos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kampaniakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Crvena Zvezda 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Anastasios Giakoumakis was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Kampaniakos dressing room was either.
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
The deal with OFI 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levadiakos have kept their man, and Kampaniakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Kampaniakos know which stage they are at.
A loan enquiry to Spartak Subotica: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kavala in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Kampaniakos has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Guille Donoso 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. Kampaniakos have done the hard part with Panserraikos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Cyril Zabou 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. Kifisia have kept their man, and Kampaniakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Kampaniakos had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Kifisia, 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 Kampaniakos 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. Asteras have kept their man, and Kampaniakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Panagiotis Papanikolaou has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michalis Mandalos 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikos Lampropoulos 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. Kalamata have kept their man, and Kampaniakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Panagiotis Lygas and Kampaniakos agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kampaniakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A loan enquiry to Aris Thessaloniki: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Kampaniakos 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.