Lucas Gaona 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.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 6.81, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
0‑5 to Flandria, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout25 Aug 2036
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Henry Wright to a room that had heard them before.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
7 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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Juan Martínez 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.
Hicham Mahrez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Flandria.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Máximo Blanco and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Temperley have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 3 times before the twentieth minute. Chacarita Juniors tried to reorganise, Temperley did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Temperley will try again when the window opens; Rosario Central may not be selling by then.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Juan Martínez at his very best
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Temperley have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Temperley may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Jul 2036
Juan Martínez 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Temperley and Vélez have settled on $480.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom21 Jul 2036
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Temperley until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Everything agreed with Rosario Central, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Tristán Suárez have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Juan Pablo Bruno. The answer from Temperley has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and Temperley go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jul 2036
Juan Martínez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Pablo Bruno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Temperley have done the hard part with Defensa y Justicia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Juan Martínez 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Henry Wright after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Santiago de Gregorio 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.
Temperley asked and Rosario Central said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez 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 goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Santiago de Gregorio now has 50 of them across 178 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
19 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
0‑3 to Dock Sud, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Temperley have done the hard part with Atlético Tucumán, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dock Sud; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Temperley asked and Vélez said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jun 2036
Juan Martínez 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 Jun 2036
Nobody left the Temperley 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Temperley lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Jun 2036
Liam Suárez, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Sarmiento 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.
Máximo Blanco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 18 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Temperley and Sarmiento have settled on $47.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$190.0K was the most the club would pay and Sarmiento were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad16 Jun 2036
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 17 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Temperley have gone to Sarmiento 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Daniel Campos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 6, 33 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Henry Wright after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
At 17 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Joaquín Bruno
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Pablo Bruno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Santiago de Gregorio 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Temperley have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A 4‑3 win over Gimnasia y Esgrima, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Juan Martínez 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Temperley and Gimnasia y Esgrima in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings12 May 2036
Lucas Gaona was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.56. 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.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Juan Manuel Mosquera, marked 7.99, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Máximo Blanco 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.
13 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
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.
He is 19 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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Compensation agreed, contract signed, and a manager gone who was never for sale. Temperley begin the search from behind, which is the only place a club in this position ever begins.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
It finished 1-6. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Temperley and Flandria, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
7 goals in one match, Pichi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Temperley and Talleres.
Temperley have received the call every well-run club eventually receives — somebody bigger has noticed Interim Coach. Saying no is easy; keeping him convinced is the actual work.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Benicio Fernández has his answer from Temperley; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
Looking aheadTemperley take on the side everybody is chasing
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Lucas Gaona and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez 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 medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Felipe Escobar, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout14 Apr 2036
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Temperley and Chacarita Juniors in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A 4‑2 win over Chacarita Juniors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
This is not rotation. Benjamín Varela has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Temperley is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez 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.
At 17 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
101 graduates from an academy now rated 4 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
16 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Estudiantes defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.42 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Máximo Blanco 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.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Santamaría 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Campos 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.85, and 2 involvements.
Juan Martínez 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 in one match, Máximo Blanco on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Temperley and UAI Urquiza.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against UAI Urquiza; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lucas Gaona. 1‑0 against Colón, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 18 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Temperley will try not to make too much of it.
Daniel Campos 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Juan Martínez scored in the 87th minute, Dock Sud had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Temperley took the lot.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Lucas Gaona 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.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez 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: Juan Martínez. 2‑1 against Dock Sud, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Juan Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Miguel Ángel Sosa 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Martínez. 1‑0 against San Telmo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Dock Sud.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings11 Feb 2036
A brace, and Juan Martínez takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan Martínez provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 18 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Santiago de Gregorio and Temperley agree another 2 years.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Juan Martínez 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. Liam Ramírez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Valentín Ferreyra is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Benicio Fernández is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Martín Gutiérrez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mateo García 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergio Blanco 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos Alberto Alonso and Temperley agree another 3 years.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Araña's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Temperley will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
The dugoutNoah Colombo knocks on the manager's door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Juan Martínez 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.
José Luis Arias 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hicham Mahrez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Temperley people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Gimnasia y Tiro moved on, Benjamín Varela reports back to Temperley, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Temperley go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutLiam Suárez knocks on the manager’s door
Lucas Gaona was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Juan Martínez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Temperley go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
92 graduates, from a department now rated 4 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Matías Reyna on the training pitch
Temperley and Vélez have settled on $520.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Temperley asked and Tigre said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Temperley have made the call to Belgrano. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Juan Martínez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defensa y Justicia 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.
Juan Martínez 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.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hicham Mahrez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Temperley will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Temperley, another week without a signature from Benjamín Varela.
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Sergio Méndez
485Edition
The Temperley Courier
12 Nov 2035
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad12 Nov 2035
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandru Mitrita trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
92 graduates, from a department now rated 4 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Juan Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hicham Mahrez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lucas Gaona’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout5 Nov 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Araña's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Temperley have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hicham Mahrez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every 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.
Máximo Blanco 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.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Juan Manuel Gutiérrez has his answer from Temperley; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Hicham Mahrez 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.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Temperley would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Temperley could ask drops and the wages Alexandru Mitrita can ask rise.
92 graduates, from a department now rated 4 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 46 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Daniel Campos 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 dugout8 Oct 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Juan Manuel Mosquera is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Temperley have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Pichi, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.02
A mark of 8.02 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Juan Martínez 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
He is 19 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.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
SquadA Temperley teenager takes the young player award
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Máximo Blanco
477Edition
The Temperley Courier
17 Sep 2035
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
A brace, and Juan Martínez takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan Martínez provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Santiago de Gregorio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 goals in one match, Juan Martínez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Temperley and Gimnasia y Esgrima.
A 4‑2 win over Gimnasia y Esgrima, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.33, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 4‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Temperley, another week without a signature from Alexandru Mitrita.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hicham Mahrez did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Máximo Blanco 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Bautista Ramos 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
0‑5 against Flandria, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 2 saves does not settle it either way.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
9 combined actions and 7.46. 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Lucas Gaona 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 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Pablo Bruno and Temperley agree another 3 years.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Morón scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Pablo Bruno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Benjamín Varela has come out of that comparison in the side, and Temperley have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout6 Aug 2035
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Temperley asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Juan Martínez 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. Facundo Vega is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Raúl Vega is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Benicio Cohen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Julián Correa 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.
1‑7 against Villa Dálmine, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
9 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 nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Temperley and Gimnasia y Tiro have settled on $34.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom23 Jul 2035
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Temperley until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Temperley had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at San Telmo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Amkar have made their interest known and Temperley have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Godoy Cruz, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: San Martín SJ keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Pablo Bruno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Temperley have done the hard part with San Telmo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Santiago de Gregorio and Temperley agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Juan Martínez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
Temperley and Argentinos Juniors have settled on $4.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Temperley have done the hard part with River Plate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Juan Martínez 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.
Temperley asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dock Sud scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Colegiales waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Temperley is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with San Telmo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Temperley have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lucas Gaona and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑3 against Sportivo Italiano, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Gimnasia y Tiro have accepted the money. What Temperley do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Temperley have done the hard part with Racing Club, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Temperley asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Juan Martínez 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 hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hicham Mahrez did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Temperley have done the hard part with Vélez, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Santamaría 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 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 dugout11 Jun 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Hicham Mahrez 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.
Half the programme played, position 9, 25 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Central Córdoba SdE 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.
Temperley have made the call to Atlético Tucumán. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Juan Martínez
“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.
Boardroom28 May 2035
Nobody left the Temperley 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 dugout28 May 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Pablo Bruno signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 19. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Juan Martínez 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 19 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.
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.
The dugout14 May 2035
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Temperley will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Temperley lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lucas Gaona. 2‑0 against Estudiantes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
51 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings7 May 2035
Juan Martínez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. 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.
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Temperley.
The dugout7 May 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Pablo Bruno signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Temperley will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Out, 0‑4 to Brown de Adrogué, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Santiago de Gregorio 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Temperley will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Temperley lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.37 for the rest of it.
Juan Martínez 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Temperley will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Máximo Blanco and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A 3‑2 win over Chacarita Juniors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 16 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
8.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Temperley will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Pablo Bruno signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Something was said to Alexandru Mitrita and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gabriel Costa is on it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Juan Manuel Mosquera scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Mar 2035
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gustavo Alonso did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Campos 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.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Juan Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 goals in one match, Juan Martínez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Temperley and UAI Urquiza.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Hicham Mahrez, 18, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Temperley would like this to lead.
“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 dugout12 Mar 2035
Somebody else is better right now than Daniel Campos
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Temperley lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Santiago de Gregorio 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.
8.03. 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Benjamín Varela is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Joaquín Bruno
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Miguel Ángel Sosa 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
8 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Máximo Blanco 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 1‑0 win over San Telmo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Feb 2035
Juan Martínez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Juan Martínez 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Gaona signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Emiliano Castillo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Benicio Fernández has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Maximiliano Giménez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Leonardo Aguirre 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Máximo Blanco had Temperley level again within 3 minutes, and Instituto never got to play with a lead at all.
Lucas Gaona was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos Alberto Alonso and Temperley agree another 3 years.
Juan Martínez 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gabriel Costa is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Temperley, another week without a signature from Alexandru Mitrita.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Pablo Bruno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Temperley 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jorge Rossi 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Domínguez 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benjamín Varela trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Juan Martínez 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Liam Marino has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Temperley have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Temperley asked and San Lorenzo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Temperley ran out of time with Godoy Cruz. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Hicham Mahrez is 18, and Temperley 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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Estudiantes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Temperley is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Máximo Blanco 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.
Temperley offered $140.0K; Racing Club said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Temperley will try again when the window opens; Racing Club may not be selling by then.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dock Sud have kept their man, and Temperley go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Temperley have gone to Racing Club 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Gimnasia y Tiro have accepted the money. What Temperley do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Temperley have done the hard part with Racing Club, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valentín Lombardi and Temperley agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian De Luca 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Benjamín Santamaría signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Temperley offered $190.0K; Newell's Old Boys said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Juan Martínez 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.
Villa Dálmine 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.
A loan enquiry to Atlético Tucumán: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Gaona signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Santiago de Gregorio and Temperley agree another 2 years.
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 Dec 2034
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez 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.
Temperley have made the call to Gimnasia La Plata. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Defensa y Justicia 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.
Atlético Tucumán 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Temperley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Santiago de Gregorio 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.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Santamaría is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Temperley will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I 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.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Santamaría is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gustavo Gómez is on it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Temperley
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Gaona signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutGustavo Gómez knocks on the manager's door
Juan Martínez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian De Luca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Temperley would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Liam Castillo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Temperley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Juan Martínez 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.
Daniel Campos 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.
Lucas Gaona and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gustavo Gómez is on it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Juan Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamín Varela, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian De Luca 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.
Liam Suárez is 16, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Gaona signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Temperley could ask drops and the wages Gustavo Gómez can ask rise.
35 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings9 Oct 2034
A brace, and Lucas Gaona takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lucas Gaona provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Liam Suárez did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gael Sosa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez 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.