Florent Hanin 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 Christos Giousis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Valentinos Kastanos after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dida trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nea Salamis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Nea Salamis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dida is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Valentinos Kastanos could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nea Salamis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denys Vakulyk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nea Salamis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad7 Dec 2026
José Artiles 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 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Nea Salamis will try not to make too much of it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Sergio González has come out of that comparison in the side, and Nea Salamis have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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.” Valentinos Kastanos, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutDenis Thomalla asks for a word with the manager
Pedro Ataíde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Nea Salamis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Artiles 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
343% of the income goes out in wages at Nea Salamis
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
PAEEK left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Nov 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 Valentinos Kastanos to a room that had heard them before.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Pedro Ataíde, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.19
A mark of 8.19 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Pedro Ataíde 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Nea Salamis. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nea Salamis 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 Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
José Artiles falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Wallace trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Nea Salamis would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nea Salamis 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 Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Nea Salamis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Artiles 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 did not go to PAEEK to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nea Salamis and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Valentinos Kastanos kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pedro Ataíde did not need any: 8.51, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.23 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: José Artiles. 3‑2 against Iraklis Gerolakkou, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Camargo and Nea Salamis agree another 1 years.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Oct 2026
José Artiles falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Denis Thomalla trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nea Salamis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Artiles was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
16 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Valentinos Kastanos could afford to be generous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nea Salamis 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 Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Nea Salamis is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Nea Salamis has been clear about where Konstantinos Koubaris stands, which is more than many ever get.
Sergio López is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
A new face in his position, and Christos Giousis suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Nea Salamis have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
11 combined actions and 6.80. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout5 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 Valentinos Kastanos to a room that had heard them before.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Pedro Ataíde
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Pedro Ataíde has come out of that comparison in the side, and Nea Salamis have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
Nea Salamis are taken apart by PAEEK — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
A 4‑3 win over Ethnikos Latsion, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Nea Salamis and Ethnikos Latsion, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Denis Thomalla 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 Dida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
15 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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Valentinos Kastanos chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Nea Salamis have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denys Vakulyk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nea Salamis 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 Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Olympiakos Nicosia wanted more than $74.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PAEEK have kept their man, and Nea Salamis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Nea Salamis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Giousis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Nea Salamis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Nea Salamis close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
$74.0K on the table at Olympiakos Nicosia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Nea Salamis asked and Skonto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christos Giousis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sergio González is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Nea Salamis, another week without a signature from Dida.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nea Salamis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Nea Salamis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Aloïs Confais delivers — 7.80
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Aloïs Confais scored, was marked 7.80, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Nea Salamis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dida 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Valentinos Kastanos left the room before anybody could ask which.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nea Salamis can pretend not to have heard.
Nea Salamis had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Club Brugge, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Luan Viana 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 Christos Giousis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nea Salamis asked and Cortulua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
15 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $30.0K — a club that wants Lenos Sofroniou enough to be asked twice.
Wallace was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nea Salamis asked and PAEEK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Nea Salamis will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Volos NPS is saying, and nobody at Nea Salamis is enjoying the guessing.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Petros Kolias has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Antonis Pittas 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Wallace has just signed for Nea Salamis, and for once the answer mattered.
The shirt still fits. Giorgos Pontikos is back at Nea Salamis, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Artiles was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Alexandros Michail again, and this time the name on the line is ASIL Lysi. Nea Salamis are listening politely and promising nothing.