Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Rony Lopes 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Vagiannidis 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Braga had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Vagiannidis 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 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.
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 Tondela, 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 Tondela can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tondela is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon ran through Roméo Beney
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotis Ioannidis provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tondela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Vagiannidis 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: Fotis Ioannidis. 2‑1 against Estoril Praia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Italo Cabelinho is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tondela, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jonathan de Donno is living that version at Tondela, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Tondela had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sassuolo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tondela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tondela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 26 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Tondela 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Tondela had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tondela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Tondela will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cambuur keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Rony Lopes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bernardo Valim is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Tondela asked and Moreirense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tondela have done the hard part with Cambuur, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Hélder Tavares is a Tondela player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tondela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aston Villa have kept their man, and Tondela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
“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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tondela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Fotis Ioannidis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Rafael Tresaco is a Tondela player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Vitoria Guimaraes pay $170.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Tondela asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Samuel Gomes has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bernardo Valim is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hélder Tavares 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.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgos Vagiannidis 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 Joe Hodge is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carraça trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tondela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ceará waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tondela is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Rony Lopes is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tondela, 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Tondela can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hélder Tavares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tondela, another week without a signature from Raúl Silva.
Nobody at Tondela 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Tondela can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tondela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The deal that would have taken João Lima to Oliveirense has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Tondela with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Vagiannidis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Estrela da Amadora 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.
“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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Fotis Ioannidis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Brayan Medina has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgos Vagiannidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fotis Ioannidis 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 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Braga have kept their man, and Tondela 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 Zé Ricardo 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 Rony Lopes is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Tondela have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tondela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rômulo has just signed for Tondela, and for once the answer mattered.
Tondela offered $3.5M; Santa Clara 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.
“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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
The shirt still fits. Matías Lacava is back at Tondela, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Fotis Ioannidis 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 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Samuel Gomes has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tondela people have started saying his name 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 Tondela 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carraça was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tondela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rony Lopes 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 Zé Ricardo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and Tondela are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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 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.
Mattheus Oliveira 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 Espen van Ee was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Tondela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Porto go through and Tondela go home, 1‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces17 May 2027
A cup hiding at Porto leaves Tondela explaining themselves
1-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Tondela and Porto in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mattheus Oliveira will call it something else in private.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tondela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tondela 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 Rémy Vita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Tondela will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Giorgos Vagiannidis is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tondela know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Hugo Félix has written the date down.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tondela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Alverca will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Waldson has pre-agreed a move to Tondela, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad3 May 2027
Espen van Ee 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.
Something was said to Rony Lopes and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tondela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tondela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fotis Ioannidis 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 Rémy Vita 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 Joe Hodge is on it.
In brief
The dugoutHugo Félix asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 74 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rémy Vita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tondela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rony Lopes 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.
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Espen van Ee 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
8 new faces, and Tondela are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Giorgos Vagiannidis is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tondela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tondela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rony Lopes 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.
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
He is 22 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.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Espen van Ee 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Tondela pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotis Ioannidis provided it, and the 9.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Bruma was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotis Ioannidis provided it, and the 9.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tondela 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 Mattheus Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
“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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fotis Ioannidis 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 Espen van Ee was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Mattheus Oliveira 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.
Minute 92, against Braga, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Rony Lopes 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 Rémy Vita 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.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Tondela 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tondela can pretend not to have heard.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estoril Praia have kept their man, and Tondela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
The bid was some way short and Tondela did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Tondela 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.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ascoli have kept their man, and Tondela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
13 goals in one match, Fotis Ioannidis on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Tondela and Porto.
Tondela asked and Portimonense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The chase for Roméo Beney ended with $4.4M changing hands and Famalicao out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Cristian Quiñónes is living that version at Tondela, and it tends to show in the first month.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Tondela asked and Penarol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$4.4M settles it between the clubs for Roméo Beney
Famalicao have accepted the money. What Tondela do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rémy Vita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Tondela have gone to Famalicao 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattheus Oliveira 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.
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.
Brayan Medina was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattheus Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Samuel Gomes to a room that had heard them before.
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.
120 minutes played. Arjen van der Heide found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Maritimo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tondela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rony Lopes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Rony Lopes 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 Mattheus Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Samuel Gomes chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Rio Ave defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Nobody at Tondela 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotis Ioannidis provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fotis Ioannidis 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 easiest signature of my career.” Henry Addo and Tondela agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anderson Carvalho 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.
Position 10, 21 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.
Fotis Ioannidis 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Tondela and Famalicao, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carraça 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.
Marked 8.08 — 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Tondela have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Luis Quintero
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.
0‑4 to Santa Clara, 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.
Rony Lopes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattheus Oliveira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Tondela told Fotis Ioannidis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Samuel Gomes after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotis Ioannidis provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Brayan Medina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fotis Ioannidis. 2‑1 against Estrela da Amadora, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. David Fernandes 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.
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Xabier Huarte takes the afternoon — 8.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Xabier Huarte provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tondela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Tondela and Gil Vicente in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Rony Lopes 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 Anderson Carvalho 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.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Luis Quintero
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raúl Silva, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Samuel Gomes left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Bebeto
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Fotis Ioannidis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hugo Lopes 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
13 new faces, and Tondela are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Fotis Ioannidis 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 Tondela and Alverca in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anderson Carvalho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anderson Carvalho 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 kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Samuel Gomes to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Luis Quintero
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotis Ioannidis provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
1 for Mattheus Oliveira, marked 7.86, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattheus Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattheus Oliveira 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rio Ave have kept their man, and Tondela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexandre Sousa 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.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and Tondela are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Nacional moved on, Hugo Félix reports back to Tondela, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Tondela close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Tondela will try again when the window opens; Estrela da Amadora may not be selling by then.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Tondela and Estrela da Amadora have settled on $910.0K. 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.
Tondela had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Vizela paid $1.0M and Tondela took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flamengo 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Vizela have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yaya Sithole. The answer from Tondela has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Minnesota United FC have kept their man, and Tondela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
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.
Hugo Félix wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Hugo Félix found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Rio Ave went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Mattheus Oliveira 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 squad is not eleven players and a wish. Fotis Ioannidis arrives from Sporting CP to make the number up properly, and the value of that will be argued about in March rather than today.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Fotis Ioannidis from Sporting CP for $14.5M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and Tondela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 22 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.
Marked 8.38 — 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Tondela training over how hard people work
$14.5M on the table at Sporting CP. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mattheus Oliveira has just signed for Tondela, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rio Ave have kept their man, and Tondela 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 Makan Aïko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rony Lopes 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Soares 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. Paulo Tavares has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Miguel Fernandes 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Famalicao have kept their man, and Tondela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brayan Medina was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Tondela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Marques 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tondela, and both men came out saying it was fine.