Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panathinaikos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 deal with Feyenoord 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos 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.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
A point taken on 93 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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Levadiakos had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Levadiakos had all but put away. Asteras will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Abu Hanna 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fotios Vlachodimos and Levadiakos agree another 3 years.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Charles Meunier to a room that had heard them before.
Squad31 Dec 2029
A Levadiakos teenager takes the young player award
Fotios Vlachodimos is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
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 Konstantinos Angelakis is on it.
Agustín Urzi 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The mood at Levadiakos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fotios Vlachodimos did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 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.
In brief
Player ratingsAgustín Urzi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Levadiakos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Charles Meunier after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Marios Vichos falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8.33. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Fotios Vlachodimos 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces19 Nov 2029
The mood at Levadiakos 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos 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 Joel Abu Hanna 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 2‑0 win over Kifisia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Agustín Urzi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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 Levadiakos can tell you which week it ends in.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Levadiakos told Jefferson Buitrago something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadiakos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Marios Vichos 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Xavier Venâncio, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Charles Meunier was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Levadiakos dressing room was either.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑3 against Olympiacos, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Agustín Urzi 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.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
Nobody left the Levadiakos 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 dugout29 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Charles Meunier left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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 Konstantinos Angelakis is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AEK in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Charles Meunier after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Marios Vichos 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.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Charles Meunier on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
13 seasons and 245 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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 Oct 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Abu Hanna 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 words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levadiakos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Konstantinos Angelakis provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fotios Vlachodimos did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadiakos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Agustín Urzi 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.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dimitris Emmanouilidis provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos 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 Joel Abu Hanna 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: Dimitris Emmanouilidis. 3‑1 against AEL Larisa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Fotios Vlachodimos 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.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑1 to OFI, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Charles Meunier to a room that had heard them before.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadiakos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Agustín Urzi 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.
Add another name to the list: IMT have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Konstantinos Angelakis. The answer from Levadiakos has not changed — yet.
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Konstantinos Kastanas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Konstantinos Kastanas has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Julian van Esdonk is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadiakos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Atromitos will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Levadiakos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
A brace, and Agustín Urzi takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Agustín Urzi provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Istanbulspor for Konstantinos Angelakis 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Levadiakos
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Abu Hanna was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levadiakos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Levadiakos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Abu Hanna 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Levadiakos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levadiakos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Abu Hanna 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Charles Meunier has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ramiro Macagno wants continental football; whether Levadiakos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Agustín Urzi 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. Julian van Esdonk is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bayern Munich have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Xavier Venâncio is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces30 Jul 2029
The mood at Levadiakos 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos 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.
At 36 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Levadiakos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Konstantinos Angelakis is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Agustín Urzi 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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.
Levadiakos have made the call to Chesterfield. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Osvaldo Miranda is on it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ognjen Ožegović and Levadiakos agree another 2 years.
Agustín Urzi 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. José Sacramento is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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. Pisa have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Levadiakos have made the call to Bayern Munich. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The mood at Levadiakos 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Levadiakos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Marios Vichos 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chesterfield have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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.
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.
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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Agustín Urzi 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jefferson Buitrago is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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. Juventus have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 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 Mees Adrichem has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Agustín Urzi 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Taxiarchis Filon and Levadiakos agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Levadiakos have made the call to Juventus. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The 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.
The terraces4 Jun 2029
The mood at Levadiakos 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ramiro Macagno wants continental football; whether Levadiakos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about 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 Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Marios Vichos 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.
“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 Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadiakos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thanasis Gerofokas and Levadiakos agree another 4 years.
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 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 Konstantinos Angelakis has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Levadiakos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Agustín Urzi 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Agustín Urzi was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Telis Karasalidis is 38, with 292 appearances behind him, and Levadiakos will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hakim Sahabo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Agustín Urzi 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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 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 Osvaldo Miranda is on it.
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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Agustín Urzi has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Levadiakos
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Marios Vichos falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadiakos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Agustín Urzi 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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 Levadiakos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Levadiakos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Levadiakos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Marios Vichos 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.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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.
Nobody at Levadiakos 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutAhmed Guettaf knocks on the manager's door
Agustín Urzi 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ramiro Macagno has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Levadiakos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutMees Adrichem knocks on the manager's door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Marios Vichos 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadiakos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 10 on 27 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Marios Vichos 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.
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 Konstantinos Angelakis.
Agustín Urzi 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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.
Minute 92, against Aris Thessaloniki, 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.
9 combined actions and 6.48. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Grigorios Papagiannopoulos and Levadiakos agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Levadiakos close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Add another name to the list: Chornomorets have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Konstantinos Angelakis. The answer from Levadiakos has not changed — yet.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dimitris Emmanouilidis and Levadiakos agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Agustín Urzi 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ramiro Macagno wants continental football; whether Levadiakos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 17 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atromitos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Atromitos for Ilann Garin 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Asteras for Marko Kerkez 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.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Agustín Urzi 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thomas Clément commits to Levadiakos for another 4 years.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Charles Meunier, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.38 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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 Jan 2029
Agustín Urzi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Marios Vichos and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Charles Meunier left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Player ratingsThe cruellest goal, and it is José Sacramento's
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.39, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Urzi 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Fotios Vlachodimos 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.
8.10. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Lamarana Jallow at his very best
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Yury Lodygin
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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 Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Charles Meunier was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Levadiakos dressing room was either.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dylan Encina’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Levadiakos needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levadiakos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Agustín Urzi 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Ilann Garin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Panetolikos will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Levadiakos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadiakos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ognjen Ožegović and Levadiakos agree another 1 years.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Urzi 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 22 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Agustín Urzi in the middle of it, and Panetolikos unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Levadiakos can give him that is a question about the club, not about 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 Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Urzi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giannis Satsias, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Charles Meunier kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Yury Lodygin
Agustín Urzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Marios Vichos 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.
Half the programme played, position 11, 11 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Charles Meunier after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Two goals and a mark of 9.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Agustín Urzi 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Panagiotis Lampropoulos 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑3 against AEK, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Agustín Urzi 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.
At 18 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Levadiakos will try not to make too much of it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutYury Lodygin dropped after a run of poor form
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Charles Meunier to a room that had heard them before.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Levadiakos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Yury Lodygin
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Levadiakos and Panathinaikos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Charles Meunier after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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 Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.49. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Charles Meunier on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Successful dribbles: 40. 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.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Agustín Urzi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thanasis Gerofokas, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Charles Meunier was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Levadiakos dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutYury Lodygin dropped after a run of poor form
Successful dribbles: 49. 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.
Out, 1‑4 to Aris Thessaloniki, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
1-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
12 seasons and 218 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos 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 Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.29 — 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Agustín Urzi 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.
Agustín Urzi 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadiakos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Konstantinos Angelakis is 21, 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 Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Urzi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Yury Lodygin
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutIlann Garin knocks on the manager's door
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 30 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Julian van Esdonk is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Agustín Urzi 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alexandros Torosidis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Ramiro Macagno has improved at 31, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Agustín Urzi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Levadiakos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. José Sacramento is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Levadiakos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to 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 Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Julian van Esdonk is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Ahmed Guettaf is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Léandro Gomes has just signed for Levadiakos, and for once the answer mattered.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Léandro Gomes arrives at Levadiakos with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Levadiakos 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Konstantinos Angelakis has, at Levadiakos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“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 Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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 Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 20, and nobody at Levadiakos signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ilann Garin has, at Levadiakos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Agustín Urzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Marios Vichos falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Gabriel Morales has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Levadiakos have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
In brief
The dugoutAhmed Guettaf knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jefferson Buitrago is living that version at Levadiakos, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos 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 Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ahmed Guettaf's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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 Marko Kerkez has written the date down.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Jefferson Buitrago arrives at Levadiakos with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
In brief
The dugoutManuel Baldé knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levadiakos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andrea Brizi is living that version at Levadiakos, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Agustín Urzi 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.
Levadiakos asked and AEK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Levadiakos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Agustín Urzi 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 Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Evangelos Samaris is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Grigorios Torosidis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Andreas 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pavlos Nikolaou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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 Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Kerkez knocks on the manager's door
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Christos Kryparakos has just signed for Levadiakos, and for once the answer mattered.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ramiro Macagno wants continental football; whether Levadiakos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about 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 Levadiakos 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 Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Atromitos will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Stamatis Sarigiannis has pre-agreed a move to Levadiakos, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“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 Levadiakos know it.
The dugout22 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ahmed Guettaf's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Agustín Urzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos 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 Levadiakos know it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Levadiakos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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 May 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Urzi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Marios Vichos is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levadiakos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Urzi 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 Marios Vichos's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Telis Karasalidis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadiakos 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 Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marios Vichos 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.
36 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Ahmed Guettaf is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
Dimitris Emmanouilidis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Agustín Urzi 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levadiakos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Elly Owande are not good
Dimitris Emmanouilidis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Urzi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Kerkez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Marios Vichos
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.
Agustín Urzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marios Vichos is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adrián Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Urzi 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.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Levadiakos can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Taxiarchis Filon and Levadiakos agree another 4 years.
In brief
Squad12 new faces, and Levadiakos are still learning each other
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ognjen Ožegović's mistake
Agustín Urzi 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.
“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 Levadiakos know it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Telis Karasalidis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Levadiakos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
Telis Karasalidis 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 Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Marios Vichos's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Pedro Pereira is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Manuel Baldé trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adrián Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos 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 Agustín Urzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Position 11 on 22 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.30. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ognjen Ožegović's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.