From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Panetolikos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer from Al-Faisaly for Hisham Al-Dubais 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 terraces16 Aug 2027
Panetolikos sell a favourite for $2.3M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Lenny Lobato was one of the reasons people came, and $2.3M does not replace that by itself.
Market16 Aug 2027
Lenny Lobato has left for Volos NPS in a $2.3M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The offer went to Panathinaikos 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Manolis Saliakas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thanos Prodromitis is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Aug 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Panetolikos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market9 Aug 2027
The offer from Panserraikos for Thanos Prodromitis 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Manolis Saliakas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thanos Prodromitis and Panetolikos agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market9 Aug 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Vasilis Xenopoulos has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Panetolikos.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Lenny Lobato asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The Kwadwo Opoku talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panetolikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kostas Tsadjaris has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The Panetolikos board call everybody in
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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandru Măţan and Panetolikos agree another 4 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Panetolikos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market2 Aug 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad2 Aug 2027
No place for Din Sula in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Panetolikos are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panetolikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market26 Jul 2027
Panetolikos spend $530.0K to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $530.0K has been paid because Hisham Al-Dubais is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Marvelous Nakamba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market26 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ioannis Karelis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christos Papadimitriou, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aris Thessaloniki waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Panetolikos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Panetolikos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
Panetolikos sell a favourite for $1.9M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Diego Esteban was one of the reasons people came, and $1.9M does not replace that by itself.
Market19 Jul 2027
The chase for Manolis Saliakas ended with $1.6M changing hands and Olympiacos out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market19 Jul 2027
Diego Esteban has left for PAOK in a $1.9M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Marvelous Nakamba 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 terraces19 Jul 2027
The town asked, and Panetolikos paid $1.6M
Manolis Saliakas was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.6M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Market19 Jul 2027
Business is business: Adriano Bregu goes
Asteras paid $150.0K and Panetolikos took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jul 2027
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panetolikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Panetolikos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market12 Jul 2027
The offer from Atromitos for Alexandru Măţan 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Olympiacos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A move Motiejus Sapola would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Motiejus Sapola is living that version at Panetolikos, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Marvelous Nakamba 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
AEL Larisa pay $490.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market12 Jul 2027
The name of Apostolos Apostolopoulos has come up in conversations Panetolikos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad12 Jul 2027
No place for Manu Garrido in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Panetolikos are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2027
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panetolikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Kostas Tsadjaris has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Panetolikos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer from Atromitos for Moussa Djénépo 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Mario Rivas has come up in conversations Panetolikos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
No thanks: Jérôme Blanc rejects the move
Panetolikos had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mouscron, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kwadwo Opoku commits to Panetolikos for another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
At 15 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jun 2027
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panetolikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jun 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panetolikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market28 Jun 2027
Asteras pay $860.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Youssouph Badji 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Jun 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Levadiakos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Panetolikos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Jun 2027
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Panetolikos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market21 Jun 2027
Levadiakos paid $300.0K and Panetolikos took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Panetolikos asked and Legia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mateo Mejía has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panetolikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Panetolikos and Olympiacos have settled on $1.7M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market14 Jun 2027
So close: Kosta Aleksić’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Asteras moved on, Kosta Aleksić reports back to Panetolikos, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panetolikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market14 Jun 2027
Levadiakos come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Panetolikos did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The deal with Kifisia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Market14 Jun 2027
The name of Mario Rivas has come up in conversations Panetolikos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ajax is saying, and nobody at Panetolikos is enjoying the guessing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Kostas Tsadjaris has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Panetolikos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market7 Jun 2027
Diego Esteban hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panetolikos can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The deal with Ajax 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Youssouph Badji 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Flamengo have kept their man, and Panetolikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market7 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Levadiakos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Giannis Satsias. The answer from Panetolikos has not changed — yet.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Manrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Novica Eraković
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Moussa Djénépo loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Moussa Djénépo's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panetolikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 May 2027
The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Ioannis Vlachodimos, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad31 May 2027
Youssouph Badji 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Marc Castells for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Panetolikos will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market31 May 2027
Miguel Luís is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Panetolikos has been clear about where Miguel Luís stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad31 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Farley Rosa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom24 May 2027
Pressure builds in the Panetolikos boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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 dugout24 May 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 May 2027
Kosta Aleksić knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kosta Aleksić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kwadwo Opoku’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout17 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Panetolikos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 May 2027
Youssouph Badji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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 dugout17 May 2027
Kosta Aleksić knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kosta Aleksić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout17 May 2027
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.
Market17 May 2027
Panetolikos have let the market know Kosta Aleksić can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Youssouph Badji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikola Stajić commits to Panetolikos for another 3 years.
Market10 May 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Evangelos Fortounis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 May 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stavros Georgiadis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout10 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 May 2027
Farley Rosa 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 dugout10 May 2027
Nikola Stajić asks for a word with the manager
“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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes Marc Castells a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Panetolikos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market10 May 2027
Panetolikos have made Diego Esteban available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panetolikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 May 2027
Youssouph Badji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Squad3 May 2027
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Sebastian Mladen, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vasilis Kakionis, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Nikola Stajić has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Pressure builds in the Panetolikos boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad26 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
No hiding place for Juanpi
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juanpi, and the manager let it.
Market26 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kwadwo Opoku’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Apr 2027
Diego Esteban hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panetolikos can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Juanpi keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Panetolikos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Manrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Novica Eraković, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Panetolikos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Youssouph Badji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Georgios Manolas has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Panetolikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Apr 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Panetolikos, another week without a signature from Apostolos Apostolopoulos.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panetolikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Youssouph Badji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Kosta Aleksić asks for a word with the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Panetolikos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Youssouph Badji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Christian Manrique 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Juanpi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Kosta Aleksić asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Market29 Mar 2027
The Kwadwo Opoku talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panetolikos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yevhenii Kucherenko and Panetolikos agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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 Marc Castells has written the date down.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Youssouph Badji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Alexandru Măţan 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Mario Rivas
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market15 Mar 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A season on the outside for Mario Rivas
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Panetolikos has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
The stands have heard the Kwadwo Opoku talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Panetolikos would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Panetolikos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panetolikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market8 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Panetolikos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Unai Garcia commits to Panetolikos for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Youssouph Badji 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Petros Siovas has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Manrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Mar 2027
No place for Mario Rivas in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mario Rivas has his answer from Panetolikos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market8 Mar 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Panetolikos boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Youssouph Badji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 Mar 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Diamantis Chouchoumis has his answer from Panetolikos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diamantis Chouchoumis, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Panetolikos than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes Marc Castells a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Panetolikos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match22 Feb 2027
Full time on the season at Panetolikos
Position 9 on 24 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Market22 Feb 2027
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Alexandru Măţan 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
1‑2 to Panathinaikos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market22 Feb 2027
Kosta Aleksić is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Panetolikos has been clear about where Kosta Aleksić stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Kostas Tsadjaris to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Panetolikos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Youssouph Badji 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Manrique 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Živko Živković
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match13 Feb 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Panserraikos leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Chances created: 9. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Kosta Aleksić knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Panetolikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market8 Feb 2027
Farley Rosa hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panetolikos can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panetolikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market8 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panetolikos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Youssouph Badji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match6 Feb 2027
Late, late show earns Panetolikos a point
Minute 87, against Asteras, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The team sheet said everything about Alexandru Măţan
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alexandru Măţan.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Jan 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Alexandru Măţan scored in the 87th minute, Volos NPS had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Panetolikos took the lot.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panetolikos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Panetolikos close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match30 Jan 2027
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Youssouph Badji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match30 Jan 2027
It finished 3‑2, and it was Alexandru Măţan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Panetolikos.
Match30 Jan 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Panetolikos
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Asteras waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Panetolikos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match23 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Panetolikos
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Panetolikos are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Crvena Zvezda, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Libertad keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Plaza Colonia have kept their man, and Panetolikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Diego Esteban was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Manrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Panetolikos's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Panetolikos has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Jan 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Youssouph Badji 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Panetolikos against OFI
1‑3 to OFI, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Flamengo have kept their man, and Panetolikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Živko Živković, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Panetolikos's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Panetolikos has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Youssouph Badji 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
PAOK left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Panetolikos asked and Estudiantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Juanpi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market11 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vasilis Xenopoulos has his answer from Panetolikos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Jan 2027
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Youssouph Badji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Manrique 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Mario Rivas
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yevhenii Kucherenko commits to Panetolikos for another 3 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Werder Bremen have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market4 Jan 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Dec 2026
Diego Esteban hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panetolikos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 116% of everything Panetolikos earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.88, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Youssouph Badji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Alexandru Măţan 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Late, late show earns Panetolikos a point
Minute 90, against Kifisia, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.99 on the card, and the Panetolikos support went home talking about one name.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Kifisia leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Youssouph Badji 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
1‑2 to Aris Thessaloniki, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Apostolos Limnios has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kostas Tsadjaris after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Mladen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Something was said to Konrad Michalak and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Galiatsos, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Diego Esteban knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diego Esteban trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Youssouph Badji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
A 2‑1 win over Levadiakos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Mario Rivas did the work nobody counts — 7.02
9 combined actions and 7.02. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lazar Kojić and Panetolikos agree another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Panetolikos told Alexandru Măţan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
Chastening afternoon for Panetolikos
A 0‑4 beating by Olympiacos was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market30 Nov 2026
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 111% of everything Panetolikos earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kostas Tsadjaris after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
Chastening afternoon for Panetolikos
A 0‑3 beating by Panathinaikos was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad23 Nov 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Youssouph Badji 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Manrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Marc Castells
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match23 Nov 2026
Halfway: Panetolikos sit in position 9
13 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Panetolikos dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Kwadwo Opoku takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Youssouph Badji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Kwadwo Opoku was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.28. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match14 Nov 2026
A 3‑1 win over Panserraikos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad16 Nov 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market16 Nov 2026
No place for Miguel Luís in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Miguel Luís has his answer from Panetolikos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Kostas Tsadjaris on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Youssouph Badji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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 terraces9 Nov 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Youssouph Badji. 2‑0 against Asteras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Grigorios Mandalos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Panetolikos
Position 13 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match31 Oct 2026
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Moussa Djénépo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Marvelous Nakamba 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Volos NPS left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Manrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Kosta Aleksić
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Marvelous Nakamba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mario Rivas, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Panetolikos are still strangers to each other
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match24 Oct 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. AEL Larisa defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
A reunion for Juanpi
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Volos NPS in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Panetolikos's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Panetolikos has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Živko Živković pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Diego Esteban
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Both jobs done by Kwadwo Opoku — 6.98
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. 9 actions, 6.98, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kostas Tsadjaris after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Panetolikos
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Panetolikos are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Marvelous Nakamba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Christian Manrique 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kostas Tsadjaris after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. PAOK came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes Kosta Aleksić a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Panetolikos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Marvelous Nakamba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 147% of everything Panetolikos earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Novica Eraković
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Moussa Djénépo
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Moussa Djénépo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Panetolikos have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kostas Tsadjaris after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Sep 2026
The small margins put Panetolikos out
Out, 0‑1 to Aris Thessaloniki, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Marvelous Nakamba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Alexandru Măţan 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑2 to Atromitos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Mario Rivas
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Panetolikos 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
The leaders are next for Panetolikos
AEK top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑1 against Kifisia, and it could have been more.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Youssouph Badji, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Youssouph Badji was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.84. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Kwadwo Opoku was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Christian Manrique 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Marvelous Nakamba 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Sep 2026
Aris Thessaloniki left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonidas Mavropanos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market14 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kifisia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panetolikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 17 in, 1 out at Panetolikos
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
Atromitos come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Panetolikos did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Marvelous Nakamba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Alexandru Măţan 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match5 Sep 2026
No time for Levadiakos to settle
The goal that put Levadiakos ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Panetolikos equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michalis Pardalos
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panetolikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Aug 2026
OFI come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Panetolikos did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Marvelous Nakamba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandru Măţan, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Manrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Aug 2026
14 new faces, and Panetolikos 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michalis Pardalos
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panetolikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Panetolikos asked and Asteras said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Panetolikos have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market24 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Panetolikos
Marc Castells arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Michalis Pardalos damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Marvelous Nakamba 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Măţan 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Panetolikos have gone to AEK 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$1.5M on the table at PAOK. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Marvelous Nakamba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Diamantis Chouchoumis is a Panetolikos player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Apostolos Donis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alexandros Samaris is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Moussa Djénépo and Panetolikos agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Marvelous Nakamba 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 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Măţan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Moussa Djénépo's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Panetolikos
11 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.