“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OFI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about OFI and Olympiacos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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. 11 actions, 7.89, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Agustín Medina 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.
17 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Luka Jović’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and OFI needing him to play as if none of it matters.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at OFI has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aitor Cantalapiedra signs something — a contract at OFI or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OFI. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $326.5K of what OFI paid for Kostas Plegas is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OFI can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 19 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Lucas Silva 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 Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. OFI will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Niki Volos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at OFI is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
1 for Lucas Silva, marked 7.29, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The deal with Lanús 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.
Giannis Theodosoulakis 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 morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Add another name to the list: Panserraikos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Anestis Vlachomitros. The answer from OFI has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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.
Zean Dalügge was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OFI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
12 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at OFI would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around OFI people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
OFI asked and Olympiacos 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 João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kavala waiting with a shirt. Nobody at OFI is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The chase for Giannis Gerolemou ended with $850.0K changing hands and Athens Kallithea out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
OFI had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OFI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Athens Kallithea have accepted the money. What OFI do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer from Panserraikos for Anestis Vlachomitros was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $951.2K — a club that wants Giannis Gerolemou enough to be asked twice.
Aitor Cantalapiedra 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panargiakos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at OFI is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him 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 OFI can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Kalamata for Zean Dalügge was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Thiago Nuss 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
João Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. OFI will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Kostas Kostoulas
The dugoutZean Dalügge asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around OFI people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Panargiakos for Alexandr Burnos was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $80.1K — a club that wants Issiaga Sylla enough to be asked twice.
$390.0K on the table at Anagennisi Karditsa. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Kauno Zalgiris for Anestis Vlachomitros was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OFI have done the hard part with River Plate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to Olympiacos 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.
OFI offered $150.0K; Kampaniakos 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.
Add another name to the list: Panionios have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Zean Dalügge. The answer from OFI has not changed — yet.
OFI asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI 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 OFI can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OFI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Kampaniakos for Giannis Christopoulos was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
$150.0K was the most the club would pay and Marko were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zean Dalügge 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
Transfer targetsA loan move for Veljko Prodanić is in the works
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him 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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with AEK is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$150.0K was the most the club would pay and Chania were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OFI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Panionios for Kostas Kostoulas was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OFI can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dimitris Theodoridis had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $222.5K — a club that wants Dimitris Pinakas enough to be asked twice.
Thiago Nuss 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OFI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nikos Papanikolaou has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The offer from Mlada Boleslav for Nicholas Gioacchini was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
OFI have gone to Makedonikos 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.
Aitor Cantalapiedra 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.
$150.0K on the table at PAS Giannina. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Add another name to the list: Septemvri have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dimitris Theodoridis. The answer from OFI has not changed — yet.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at OFI has been clear about where Giannis Theodosoulakis stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
SquadWords at OFI training over how hard people work
Thiago Nuss 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 had been thinking. João Silva 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OFI. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutZean Dalügge knocks on the manager's door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OFI. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yevhenii Kucherenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
26 points in position 10: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zean Dalügge 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
6 goals in 22 games at Melbourne City — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at OFI updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OFI. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“I want to stay in the game when I stop, and I am not going to wait until I stop to prepare for it.” At 33 the badges have begun, and every manager in the division remembers doing the same.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OFI. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Klidman Lilo’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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.
Sokratis Dioudis has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OFI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Thiago Nuss and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
João Silva 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilija Vukotić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and OFI have no good answer.
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 Alexandros Maskanakis has written the date down.
“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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Thiago Nuss 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. OFI will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
5 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at OFI, another week without a signature from Alexandros Maskanakis.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandros Maskanakis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Thiago Nuss 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 had been thinking. João Silva 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandros Maskanakis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad26 Mar 2029
João Silva 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.
Zean Dalügge was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. OFI would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Zean Dalügge 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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.
Dimitris Monastirlis 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: 16. 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 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 club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filip Bainović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Thiago Nuss 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.
Kifisia made OFI work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Mar 2029
João Silva 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 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Luka Jović was at the centre of it, Iraklis were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Krešimir Krizmanić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
1 for Giorgos Kanellopoulos, marked 7.96, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Thiago Nuss 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.
Day 11 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
OFI asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I watch every OFI game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chania runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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 dugout12 Feb 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Stavros Stafylidis to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and OFI are still learning each other
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OFI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Stavros Stafylidis recited it perfectly.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OFI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Krešimir Krizmanić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OFI can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around OFI people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Beroe have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Zean Dalügge. The answer from OFI has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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.
Zean Dalügge 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.
“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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OFI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OFI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Aris Thessaloniki were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The chase for Vasilije Delibašić ended with $290.0K changing hands and Egaleo out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Thiago Nuss and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A 2‑1 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OFI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The clubs have shaken hands with Egaleo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Thiago Nuss 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Nikitas Synolakis is a OFI player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑2 to Olympiacos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Jan 2029
João Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 OFI know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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.
Zean Dalügge and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Thiago Nuss 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.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 10, 15 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Spyridon Tzolis after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at OFI can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at OFI has been clear about where João Silva stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.25 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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. Giorgos Kanellopoulos had OFI level again within 1 minutes, and Iraklis never got to play with a lead at all.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Thiago Nuss 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
João Silva 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 at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OFI. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Thiago Nuss 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.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OFI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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.” Spyridon Tzolis chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at OFI has been clear about where Kostas Plegas stands, which is more than many ever get.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OFI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Krešimir Krizmanić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Luka Jović scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to PAOK, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad6 Nov 2028
João Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Zean Dalügge 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Spyridon Tzolis kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. OFI told Thanasis Androutsos something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Thiago Nuss 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Krešimir Krizmanić is on it.
Beaten 4 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
In brief
The dugoutIlija Vukotić knocks on the manager's door
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nikola Neychev 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at OFI, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Asteras in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at OFI. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutRoger Colomina asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Krešimir Krizmanić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka 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.
Triantafyllos Pasalidis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A mark of 7.81, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
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.” Spyridon Tzolis, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 101th minute. Marko will replay every second of the added time for a week.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Thiago Nuss 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 had been thinking. Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Spyridon Tzolis after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sokratis Dioudis’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and OFI needing him to play as if none of it matters.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OFI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 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 OFI can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A point taken on 90 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.
Alexandros Maskanakis 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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OFI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Krešimir Krizmanić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Veres for Yevhenii Kucherenko was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. OFI know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Zean Dalügge 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 manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Thiago Nuss is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at OFI has been clear about where Filip Bainović stands, which is more than many ever get.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OFI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI 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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Sep 2028
Luka Jović arrives at OFI in a $4.4M statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. OFI have paid $4.4M for Luka Jović, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
$1.5M was the most the club would pay and Asteras 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
OFI asked and Lillestrom said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aitor Cantalapiedra provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OFI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OFI have done the hard part with Asteras, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Add another name to the list: Panathinaikos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thiago Nuss. The answer from OFI has not changed — yet.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OFI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Thiago Nuss 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 Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nicholas Gioacchini is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OFI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eddie Salcedo signs something — a contract at OFI or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OFI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal that would have taken Giannis Theodosoulakis to Panserraikos has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to OFI with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Thiago Nuss and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Eddie Salcedo 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 at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OFI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panserraikos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at OFI is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at OFI can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Panionios for Dimitris Monastirlis was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Thiago Nuss 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 had been thinking. Eddie Salcedo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Peter Michorl has written the date down.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at OFI has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Fehervar for Giannis Theodosoulakis was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddie Salcedo 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. River Plate have kept their man, and OFI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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 OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Anestis Vlachomitros ended with $530.0K changing hands and AEL Larisa out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Anestis Vlachomitros is living that version at OFI, and it tends to show in the first month.
Giannis Theodosoulakis 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. Olympiacos have kept their man, and OFI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around OFI 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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with River Plate, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Eddie Salcedo 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. Independiente have kept their man, and OFI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Triantafyllos Pasalidis and OFI agree another 3 years.
“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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Zean Dalügge ended with $360.0K changing hands and Egaleo out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Thiago Nuss was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Zean Dalügge has, at OFI, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThiago Nuss has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Thiago Nuss 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.
Olympiacos wanted more than $420.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad26 Jun 2028
João Silva 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.
OFI have made the call to River Plate. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad26 Jun 2028
5 new faces, and OFI 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nicholas Gioacchini is on 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.
In brief
The dugoutJoão Silva asks for a word with the manager
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Panathinaikos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Olympiacos 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddie Salcedo 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. River Plate have kept their man, and OFI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The phone has started ringing about Thiago Nuss again, and this time the name on the line is Godoy Cruz. OFI are listening politely and promising nothing.
The chase for Alexandros Maskanakis ended with $630.0K changing hands and Panserraikos out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI 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 Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OFI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer went to Asteras 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.
$630.0K 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.
OFI asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Kostas Kostoulas 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 João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giannis Theodosoulakis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddie Salcedo 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.
18 games and 1 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad29 May 2028
6 new faces, and OFI 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.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Nikos Marinakis'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.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OFI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Eddie Salcedo is on it.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giannis Christopoulos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Thiago Nuss 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.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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. 67 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 OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giannis Theodosoulakis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Thiago Nuss 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Eddie Salcedo 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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 OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Krešimir Krizmanić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Eddie Salcedo is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lorenzo Dickmann is on it.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OFI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OFI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nicholas Gioacchini is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sokratis Dioudis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Nikos Marinakis'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 words a physio says slowly. 108 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddie Salcedo 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at OFI can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Eddie Salcedo 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 no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lorenzo Dickmann is on it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 32 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Thiago Nuss 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 had been thinking. João Silva 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: 16. 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 never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Spyridon Tzolis was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the OFI dressing room was either.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Thiago Nuss 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 Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad6 Mar 2028
5 new faces, and OFI 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Eddie Salcedo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 6.52 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“I watch every OFI game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Melbourne Victory runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Spyridon Tzolis to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Feb 2028
João Silva 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 dugout21 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 Spyridon Tzolis to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. OFI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lanús keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddie Salcedo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A point taken on 91 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from Nestos Chrysoupoli for Giannis Christopoulos was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at River Plate is saying, and nobody at OFI is enjoying the guessing.
Thiago Nuss 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 Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Giannis Theodosoulakis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OFI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: River Plate keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.17, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and OFI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at OFI training over how hard people work
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OFI have done the hard part with River Plate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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. 14 actions, 6.86, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nestos Chrysoupoli waiting with a shirt. Nobody at OFI is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Panetolikos have accepted the money. What OFI do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OFI can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Add another name to the list: Melbourne Victory have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dimitris Monastirlis. The answer from OFI has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddie Salcedo 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 agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Aris Thessaloniki have accepted the money. What OFI do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 OFI, and it is not being withdrawn.
$1.9M on the table at Kifisia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Spyridon Tzolis to a room that had heard them before.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. OFI had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OFI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Thiago Nuss and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Eddie Salcedo 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 name of Giannis Christopoulos has come up in conversations OFI were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddie Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Peter Michorl, and the manager let it.
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Spyridon Tzolis to a room that had heard them before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Olympiacos next, and one man in the OFI dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OFI 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
João Silva 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giannis Theodosoulakis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddie Salcedo 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: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a OFI man
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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 particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aitor Cantalapiedra provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Thiago Nuss 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: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Eddie Salcedo 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.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon OFI had all but put away. Volos NPS will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.62, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Manos Faitakis 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Silva 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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. OFI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Achilleas Poungouras will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Aitor Cantalapiedra 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: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddie Salcedo 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.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OFI 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 OFI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Thiago Nuss and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Eddie Salcedo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Nobody at OFI will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at OFI would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Position 2, 17 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Krešimir Krizmanić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OFI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Thiago Nuss 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.
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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Thiago Nuss 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Eddie Salcedo 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Nicholas Gioacchini had OFI level again within 3 minutes, and Panetolikos never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Thiago Nuss 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OFI 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eddie Salcedo 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.
200 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.