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 The request is on a desk at Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
Squad14 Feb 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.
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout14 Feb 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Vasileios Mavropanos to a room that had heard them before.
0‑3 to AEK, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Levadiakos close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 6 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.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ivan Verhun has just signed for Levadiakos, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Romain Muro has just signed for Levadiakos, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad31 Jan 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. Christos Palaiologou 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.
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.
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.
The dugout31 Jan 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.
0‑5 to Panathinaikos, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is not 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shrewsbury Town have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
In brief
Squad11 new faces, and Levadiakos are still learning each other
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Clayton Bonevacia is living that version at Levadiakos, and it tends to show in the first month.
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Panserraikos. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad17 Jan 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OFI have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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.
Squad10 Jan 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gabriele Negri is living that version at Levadiakos, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andréa Librici 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
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.
50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Vasileios Mavropanos to a room that had heard them before.
“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.
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.
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Vasileios Mavropanos to a room that had heard them before.
Artur Mukha is 20, and Levadiakos have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
1‑4 to PAOK, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
7.90, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Levadiakos will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Orofino will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andréa Librici will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Telis Karasalidis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Nov 2027
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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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.” Vasileios Mavropanos, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Position 11, 10 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Vasileios Mavropanos left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Levadiakos has been clear about where Capella stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
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 1‑0 win over Aris Thessaloniki, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
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.” Vasileios Mavropanos kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
15 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.
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 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.
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 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.
24 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 bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yury Lodygin, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Vasileios Mavropanos to a room that had heard them before.
31 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.
1‑6 to Panathinaikos, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
“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.
7 goals in one match, Ognjen Ožegović on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Levadiakos and Panathinaikos.
40 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giorgos Nikas. 2‑0 against Panserraikos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
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.
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.
0‑1 to Asteras, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadiakos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Volos NPS were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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 went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Alexandr Shestyuk had Levadiakos level again within 3 minutes, and AEL Larisa never got to play with a lead at all.
8 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 words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
34 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Orofino will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
At 27 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.
84 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
188 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Levadiakos until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andréa Librici will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Adrián Hernández reports back to Levadiakos with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
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.
Successful dribbles: 43. 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 words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Eintracht Frankfurt keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
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. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
98 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 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.
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Marios Vichos has improved at 27, 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. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
$210.0K was the most the club would pay and Volos NPS were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chelsea have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
106 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.
“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.
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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
The offer went to Volos NPS this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
In brief
SquadGiannis Kosti has improved at 27, which nobody expected
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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 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.
Levadiakos have gone to Kifisia with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andréa Librici is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Levadiakos asked and Charlton Athletic said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Panagiotis Symelidis and Levadiakos agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 122 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 and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
At 28 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 130 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Levadiakos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Everything agreed with AEL Larisa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
137 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.
Levadiakos had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Partizan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Levadiakos have gone to AEL Larisa with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$73.0K was the most the club would pay and Volos NPS were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The phone has started ringing about Christos Papadopoulos again, and this time the name on the line is Panserraikos. Levadiakos are listening politely and promising nothing.
The words a physio says slowly. 144 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.
The chase for Marko Kerkez ended with $980.0K changing hands and Aris Thessaloniki out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Andréa Librici has agreed terms with Aris Thessaloniki for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dimitris Emmanouilidis and Levadiakos agree another 3 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.
$73.0K on the table at Volos NPS. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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.
Levadiakos have gone to Aris Thessaloniki with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Astra is saying, and nobody at Levadiakos is enjoying the guessing.
Levadiakos asked and Legia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 27 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.” Lamarana Jallow and Levadiakos agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Levadiakos had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Atromitos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Niv Eliasi 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.
$33.0K on the table at Panserraikos. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
At 27 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and OFI waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Levadiakos have done the hard part with Astra, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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. Christos Papadopoulos is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Levadiakos asked and Pandurii said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 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.
“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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Porto is saying, and nobody at Levadiakos is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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. 3 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 Enis Çokaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Legia have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Enis Çokaj 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 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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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 Enis Çokaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“It 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Niv Eliasi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enis Çokaj 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.
In brief
The dugoutNiv Eliasi asks for a word with the manager
SquadQuestions about Hakim Sahabo on the training pitch
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anastasios Tachtsidis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
46 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.
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enis Çokaj 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.
54 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.
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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enis Çokaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Panagiotis Liagas has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Levadiakos
63 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.
“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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Levadiakos are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
72 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.
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.
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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Theodoros Papagiannopoulos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enis Çokaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Aliou Badji
79 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.
“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 went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enis Çokaj 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.
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 Adrián Hernández has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
“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.
96 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.
“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 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Enis Çokaj 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.
104 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.
“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.
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.
“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.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
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.
113 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.
“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.
“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.
“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 words a physio says slowly. 122 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.
“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.
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 Enis Çokaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Levadiakos has been clear about where Aliou Badji stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 130 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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.
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: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Up for the corner, and Giannis Kosti delivers — 7.81
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Giannis Kosti scored, was marked 7.81, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
138 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.
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.
“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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Javi Hervás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 146 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AEL Larisa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Levadiakos had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Utrecht, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Niv Eliasi 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Agustín Orofino has, at Levadiakos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Levadiakos close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Levadiakos have done the hard part with Utrecht, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
0‑3 to Panathinaikos, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
70 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.
“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.
The phone has started ringing about Giannis Kosti again, and this time the name on the line is NK Maribor. Levadiakos are listening politely and promising nothing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rodina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Altach have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AEL Larisa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ognjen Ožegović. 2‑1 against Asteras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
86 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Volos NPS the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Levadiakos will enjoy reviewing.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal with Kifisia 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.
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.
94 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.
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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moses Cobnan. 1‑0 against AEL Larisa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enis Çokaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vasileios Mavropanos on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
101 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 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with OFI the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Levadiakos will enjoy reviewing.
“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.
“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.
Niv Eliasi 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 words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Niv Eliasi 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Stylianos Kourbelis has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Javi Hervás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
16 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
“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.
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.
Three points for Levadiakos, 1‑0 the final word against Panetolikos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Enis Çokaj 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.
25 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.
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Yury Lodygin for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Levadiakos will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.63, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enis Çokaj 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.
32 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 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 Javi Hervás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Enis Çokaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Moses Cobnan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Levadiakos and AEK in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Grigorios Pelkas has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Efthymios Alexiou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Enis Çokaj 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Levadiakos dressing room in a hurry
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutNiv Eliasi asks for a word with the manager
0‑3 against Olympiacos, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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 Javi Hervás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
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 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.
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.
Niv Eliasi 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enis Çokaj 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Vasileios Mavropanos to a room that had heard them before.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Olympiacos in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Giannis Kosti delivers — 7.83
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Giannis Kosti scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
At 24 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stelios Vallindras is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
He is 23 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.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eleftherios Tsimikas 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vasileios Mavropanos after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJavi Hervás knocks on the manager’s door
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
1‑2 to Volos NPS, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enis Çokaj 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aliou Badji, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
14 new faces, and Levadiakos are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vasileios Mavropanos after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Niv Eliasi has moved up it.
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.
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 Enis Çokaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with OFI the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Levadiakos will enjoy reviewing.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.78, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
$2.0M was the most the club would pay and Panserraikos were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Georgios Giakoumakis has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enis Çokaj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The offer went to Panserraikos this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Levadiakos until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“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.
Javi Hervás and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enis Çokaj 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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.04, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Levadiakos had all but put away. Panetolikos will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Moses Cobnan 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.
Three points for Levadiakos, 2‑0 the final word against Atromitos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Moses Cobnan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ognjen Ožegović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
Levadiakos and Panetolikos have settled on $810.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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.
$4.9M was the most the club would pay and Panathinaikos were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panathinaikos have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fee is $750.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. AEK drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Bauzá wants continental football; whether Levadiakos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enis Çokaj 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 clubs have shaken hands with AEK; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$4.2M on the table at Panathinaikos. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Levadiakos offered $1.4M; Olympiacos said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Levadiakos had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Haladas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.