The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Nikos Karelis decided nobody was going anywhere. Atromitos had no time left to answer.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The shirt still fits. Hugo Travassos is back at Panserraikos, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iva Gelashvili 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.
Giannis Pasas 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.
Atromitos made Panserraikos work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Nikos Karelis
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Nikos Karelis has come out of that comparison in the side, and Panserraikos have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panserraikos can pretend not to have heard.
23 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Vernon de Marco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván 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 brace, and Braian Galván takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Braian Galván provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.51 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑2 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sotiris Kontouris is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is 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.
Vernon de Marco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Braian Galván was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.72. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.11 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The shirt still fits. Ciaran Thompson is back at Panserraikos, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Braian Galván 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.
Miguel 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Francisco Tinaglini wants continental football; whether Panserraikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alex Teixeira and Panserraikos agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A brace, and Nikos Karelis takes the afternoon — 8.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikos Karelis provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iva Gelashvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikos Karelis. 2‑1 against AEK, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.42 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Braian Galván wants continental football; whether Panserraikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Iva Gelashvili and Panserraikos agree another 3 years.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Moussa Wagué has improved at 28, 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicolás Castagno is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 31 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Braian Galván 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.
Théo Dhollande is 20, and Panserraikos have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Vernon de Marco 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Iva Gelashvili has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Panserraikos and AEL Larisa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jakub Selnar is living that version at Panserraikos, and it tends to show in the first month.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panserraikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Braian Galván 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nikos Mitroglou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
In brief
SquadWords at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicolás Castagno is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 31 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.
Giannis Pasas 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
SquadWords at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sotiris Kontouris is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Francisco Tinaglini wants continental football; whether Panserraikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Vernon de Marco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 26 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván 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.
Add another name to the list: Bekescsaba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Martín Espinoza. The answer from Panserraikos has not changed — yet.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Panserraikos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Braian Galván 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.
Iva Gelashvili 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 upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Panserraikos is running low.
Vernon de Marco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vernon de Marco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panserraikos 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 Panserraikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iva Gelashvili 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.
Miguel 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panserraikos 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. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Panserraikos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
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.
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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panserraikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panserraikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The fee is $220.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. OFI drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panserraikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panserraikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Marios Sofianos reports back to Panserraikos with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Viktor Rumyantsev is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panserraikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panserraikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: OFI will make the call about Alexandros Maskanakis this week. Panserraikos have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Panserraikos has been clear about where Marios Sofianos stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
BoardroomPanserraikos pull $141.0K back off the table
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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 Panserraikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Panserraikos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Panserraikos will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Braian Galván wants continental football; whether Panserraikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Giannis Pasas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sotiris Kontouris is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Panserraikos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panserraikos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Panserraikos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lefteris Lyratzis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 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 Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sotiris Kontouris 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.
Vernon de Marco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Panserraikos is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Jefferson Sánchez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panserraikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lefteris Lyratzis 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Braian Galván wants continental football; whether Panserraikos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Jefferson Sánchez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Lefteris Lyratzis 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sotiris Kontouris 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.
Vernon de Marco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Panserraikos 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Riera signs something — a contract at Panserraikos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Giannis Doiranlis scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Braian Galván 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Vernon de Marco 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 Feb 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Panetolikos? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.43 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lefteris Lyratzis 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Braian Galván was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.60. 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.
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 Jefferson Sánchez.
Panserraikos opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Alexandros Maskanakis stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Jefferson Sánchez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Joaquín Vera 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.
“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 ratings1 Feb 2027
Joaquín Vera was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 34 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.74 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is 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.
29 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
26 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Jefferson Sánchez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.84 — 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Braian Galván. 1‑0 against Levadiakos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The offer from Panetolikos for Samir Ben Sallam 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 Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Manolis Pavlis has left for Volos NPS in a $220.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Braian Galván falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Panserraikos have had the benefit of it.
Vernon de Marco 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.
8 goals and a season average of 7.45 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Giannis Pasas 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 Samir Ben Sallam has come up in conversations Panserraikos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Braian Galván falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a 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.
Jefferson Sánchez 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
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván 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.
Olympiacos go through and Panserraikos go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Kostas Triantafyllopoulos decided nobody was going anywhere. Volos NPS had no time left to answer.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kostas Triantafyllopoulos provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Braian Galván falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A brace, and Adrián Riera takes the afternoon — 9.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adrián Riera provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Jefferson Sánchez 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván 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.
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sotiris Kontouris did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Braian Galván 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
304% of the income goes out in wages at Panserraikos
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.07 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Vernon de Marco 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
Giannis Pasas 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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.64 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Braian Galván falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Vernon de Marco 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 Nov 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Teixeira. 1‑0 against Atromitos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
304% of the income goes out in wages at Panserraikos
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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jefferson Sánchez, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Omeonga 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Francisco Tinaglini knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.54 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Jefferson Sánchez 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.
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Braian Galván 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 goal that put Levadiakos ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Panserraikos equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Panserraikos 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alexandros Maskanakis is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Panserraikos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Jefferson Sánchez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sotiris Kontouris is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Braian Galván 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
500% of the income goes out in wages at Panserraikos
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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Francisco Tinaglini: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Giorgos Marinos had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Panathinaikos were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Vernon de Marco 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 Sep 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8.76. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The offer from Fakel for Nicolás Castagno 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.
Jefferson Sánchez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Riera signs something — a contract at Panserraikos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and AEL Larisa had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Panserraikos did not stop to explain themselves.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Manolis Pavlis reports back to Panserraikos with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lefteris Lyratzis 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.
Giannis Pasas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Panserraikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jefferson Sánchez 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Panserraikos
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Giannis Pasas 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Andreas Tsadjaris 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panserraikos can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Kifisia for Giannis Doiranlis 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 chase for Charis Iliadis ended with $800.0K changing hands and AEL Larisa out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Panserraikos spend $800.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $800.0K for Charis Iliadis, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lefteris Lyratzis 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 offer from OFI for Vernon de Marco 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.
Vernon de Marco 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 Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Galván 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Panserraikos has been clear about where Viktor Sakalidis stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Riera signs something — a contract at Panserraikos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Vernon de Marco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Giannis Pasas 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Panserraikos, another week without a signature from Giannis Pasas.
48 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marios Sofianos has his answer from Panserraikos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panserraikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Panserraikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lefteris Lyratzis 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Vernon de Marco’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.