46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sturm Graz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sandali Condé will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sturm Graz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ange Ahoussou 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sturm Graz know it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sturm Graz told Ange Ahoussou something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ed Carlos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sturm Graz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matteo Bignetti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sturm Graz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Maximiliano Villa 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 watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Grazer AK runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Ed Carlos 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 words a physio says slowly. 103 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 Sturm Graz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Philipp Moizi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sturm Graz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ange Ahoussou 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sturm Graz know it.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Blau-Weiß Linz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
In brief
The dugoutArjan Malić asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 111 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sandali Condé will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sturm Graz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ange Ahoussou 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 watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Batumi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Sturm Graz will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sturm Graz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Niklas Geyrhofer reports back to Sturm Graz with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Sturm Graz is enjoying the guessing.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Niklas Geyrhofer has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
$650.0K was the most the club would pay and FAC Wien 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Admira Wacker have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Tizian-Valentino Scharmer has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sturm Graz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The chase for Jonas Winklhofer ended with $1.5M changing hands and Red Bull Salzburg out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sturm Graz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The phone has started ringing about Axel Kayombo again, and this time the name on the line is Kapfenberg. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.
Sturm Graz have gone to FAC Wien 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.
Tizian-Valentino Scharmer 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sturm Graz are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Red Bull Salzburg have accepted the money. What Sturm Graz do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sturm Graz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Banik Ostrava, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Tizian-Valentino Scharmer 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.
Sturm Graz asked and First Vienna 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 name of Sandali Condé has come up in conversations Sturm Graz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sturm Graz people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ethan Wheatley has, at Sturm Graz, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz 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. Kapfenberg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Luca Morgenstern again, and this time the name on the line is Red Bull Salzburg. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Sturm Graz will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sturm Graz, another week without a signature from Þórir Jóhann Helgason.
In brief
SquadMarco Tilio falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutAnge Ahoussou is still being punished for one mistake
“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 Sturm Graz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Philipp Moizi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sturm Graz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ange Ahoussou 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sturm Graz know it.
“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 dugout1 Jan 2029
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.” Sebastian Prass chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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 Albert Vallci is on 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 Sturm Graz 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 Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Bignetti, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Marco Tilio 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 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.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sturm Graz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Patrick Laimer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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 Sturm Graz pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
It needed Patrick Laimer to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Admira Wacker, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
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 dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sebastian Prass was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Sturm Graz dressing room was either.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sturm Graz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sturm Graz will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sturm Graz 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 Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Szymon Włodarczyk is on it.
Something was said to Belmin Beganović and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Rapid Wien in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
4 goals in 8 games at First Vienna — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sturm Graz updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sturm Graz can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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 done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sturm Graz will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sturm Graz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Grazer AK in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sturm Graz can pretend not to have heard.
$590.0K was the most the club would pay and LASK 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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sturm Graz, another week without a signature from Valmir Matoshi.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sturm Graz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $367.2K of what Sturm Graz paid for Dejan Radonjić is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alexander Murillo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Sturm Graz close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 16 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.
Sturm Graz have gone to Austria Klagenfurt 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.
The offer went to LASK this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Marco Tilio has gone, the accounts have $1.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Sturm Graz paid $1.1M and Amstetten took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten 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 Jonathan Scherzer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Amstetten has worked with Art Smakaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
$1.1M on the table at Red Bull Salzburg. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sturm Graz can tell you which week it ends in.
Sturm Graz have gone to Austria Klagenfurt 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.
The offer went to Grazer AK this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from SV Ried for Niklas Pertlwieser was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Add another name to the list: Sturm Graz have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marco Tilio. The answer from Amstetten has not changed — yet.
Tiago Estêvão has left for Austria Wien in a $200.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Julius Beck 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 new man at Amstetten has worked with Art Smakaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Denis Sinanović 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.
“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 Sturm Graz, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Austria Klagenfurt for Valmir Matoshi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sturm Graz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer went to Amstetten this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.3M — a club that wants Marco Tilio enough to be asked twice.
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo deal for Jakob Pokorny at that price
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Robert Ilicic commits to Amstetten for another 4 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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 new man at Amstetten has worked with Art Smakaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-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 Amstetten can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: SV Ried have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Niklas Pertlwieser. The answer from Amstetten has not changed — yet.
Amstetten offered $77.0K; SV Ried 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.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Amstetten
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Scherzer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Amstetten asked and FAC Wien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutArt Smakaj back under a manager who knows him
Wolfsberger AC paid $280.0K and Amstetten took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erkin Yalcin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Amstetten asked and Slavia Kroměříž 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 new man at Amstetten has worked with Art Smakaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Amstetten will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Amstetten will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The offer from Stripfing for Julius Kade was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deal with Sturm Graz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Scherzer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Amstetten go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Laurenz Fahrnberger 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.
Amstetten have made the call to Sturm Graz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutLuca Wimhofer asks for a word with the manager
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Julius Kade will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Amstetten the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Erkin Yalcin 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.
This is not rotation. Sebastian Wimmer has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moritz Oswald 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amstetten, another week without a signature from Robert Ilicic.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Robert Ilicic trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Amstetten have gone and got theirs early.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mirko Kos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Amstetten the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Erkin Yalcin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Art Smakaj 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amstetten, another week without a signature from Mirko Kos.
He is 29, he is from here, and the shirt he was raised to wear has gone to somebody bought for it. The academy staff have noticed, and so has the town.
Something was said to Philipp Offenthaler and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Tilio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Amstetten would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten 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 Moritz Oswald 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 Amstetten, another week without a signature from Julius Kade.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad1 May 2028
Anthony Schmid watches a signing take the shirt he was promised
At 29 the pathway was supposed to be open. Instead Amstetten went to the market, and a local readership is asking the question the academy staff are too diplomatic to ask out loud.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Amstetten, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mirko Kos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Amstetten the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Amstetten have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Julius Kade has agreed terms with Blau-Weiß Linz for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Moritz Oswald falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amstetten, another week without a signature from Mirko Kos.
Erkin Yalcin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Koby Mottoh has, at Amstetten, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
This is not rotation. Philipp Offenthaler has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Art Smakaj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Amstetten know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Amstetten 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.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Amstetten could ask drops and the wages Julius Kade can ask rise.
Position 10 on 37 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Amstetten they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
This is not rotation. Marco Tilio has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Moritz Oswald 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 Amstetten 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 Art Smakaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at Amstetten saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
It needed Erkin Yalcin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Anthony Schmid wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Anthony Schmid found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Austria Salzburg went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
This is not rotation. Philipp Offenthaler has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Marco Tilio falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Moritz Eder 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 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Marco Tilio will call it something else in private.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Tilio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Moritz Eder 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 have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Amstetten will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Amstetten they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Julius Kade to LASK has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Amstetten with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Erkin Yalcin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Marco Tilio falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Amstetten scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Amstetten may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Amstetten close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 2 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.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Amstetten had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rapid Wien, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
This is not rotation. Felix Köchl has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Marco Tilio 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.
Add another name to the list: Red Bull Salzburg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mirko Kos. The answer from Amstetten has not changed — yet.
Everything agreed with Rapid Wien, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
This is not rotation. Philipp Offenthaler has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FCSB have kept their man, and Amstetten go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Amstetten can pretend not to have heard.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Amstetten can tell you which week it ends in.
Erkin Yalcin 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.
This is not rotation. Sebastian Wimmer has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
Amstetten asked and Sturm Graz 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 offer from Rapid Wien for Mirko Kos was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with Rapid Wien, 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: Rapid Wien keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
This is not rotation. Thomas Mayer has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Marco Tilio 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Amstetten can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Rapid Wien; Amstetten go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Amstetten had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rapid Wien, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Tilio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Amstetten asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brandon Forbes, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Philipp Posch to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten 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 Marco Tilio 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.
Amstetten have made the call to Rapid Wien. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Robert Ilicic
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Amstetten have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Amstetten will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Philipp Posch on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Tilio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over Sturm Graz II, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Art Smakaj 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 Marco Tilio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.00, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Amstetten told Robert Ilicic something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lukas Deinhofer and Amstetten agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Marco Tilio 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 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Amstetten is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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.” Philipp Posch chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
17 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Philipp Posch to a room that had heard them before.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against FAC Wien in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Art Smakaj 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 Marco Tilio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Philipp Posch after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Altach in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Art Smakaj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
Nobody at Amstetten will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Amstetten, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Amstetten has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Amstetten know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Out, 1‑2 to First Vienna, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mirko Kos has come out of that comparison in the side, and Amstetten have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Amstetten and Stripfing, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Marco Tilio 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.
10 combined actions and 6.80. 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.89, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Art Smakaj 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.
This is not rotation. Thomas Mayer has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Marco Tilio 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 would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Philipp Posch was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Amstetten dressing room was either.
Stripfing next, and one man in the Amstetten dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Amstetten have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Marco Tilio falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Amstetten 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 Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Amstetten, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Matthias Gragger is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Thomas Mayer’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Amstetten needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Amstetten have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Art Smakaj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Marco Tilio 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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Philipp Posch on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Kapfenberg the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Amstetten will enjoy reviewing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anthony Schmid provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
This is not rotation. Thomas Mayer has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
Matthias Gragger 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.
Erkin Yalcin 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 Marco Tilio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Amstetten know which stage they are at.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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.” Philipp Posch, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Amstetten can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Grazer AK moved on, Julius Kade reports back to Amstetten, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Julius Kade delivers — 7.70
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Julius Kade scored, was marked 7.70, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Marco Tilio 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.
Maximilian Scharfetter 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.
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.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Amstetten have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Amstetten 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Marco Tilio 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.
Maximilian Scharfetter 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.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Amstetten lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was 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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is not rotation. Thomas Mayer has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Amstetten is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Marco Tilio 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.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Amstetten lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Amstetten can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Marco Tilio falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Erkin Yalcin 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.
Rico Strieder 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 words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Amstetten may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Amstetten can tell you which week it ends in.
Amstetten asked and ND Gorica 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 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.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Art Smakaj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Marco Tilio falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amstetten, another week without a signature from Julius Kade.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Philipp Posch to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Amstetten has been clear about where Philipp Offenthaler stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Lukas Deinhofer
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Amstetten can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Tilio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Moritz Eder 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Amstetten has been clear about where Felix Köchl stands, which is more than many ever get.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Amstetten
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Patrick Laimer 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. Dejan Lienhart 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. Marko Junuzovic 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. David Lainer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
Amstetten asked and Austria Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Amstetten will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Martin Kreuzriegler keeps the shirt for now, at Amstetten's convenience rather than his own.
A season-long audition: Austria Salzburg still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Amstetten's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
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 David Peham has written the date down.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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 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 Philipp Offenthaler has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joshua Steiger trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Amstetten know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Amstetten lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Amstetten can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
Rico Strieder 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 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Amstetten, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. David Peham had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Rapid Wien 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.
Erkin Yalcin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Amstetten. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Amstetten lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Austria Klagenfurt pay $240.0K, 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Marco Tilio 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.
Amstetten asked and Rapid Wien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Amstetten will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 111 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 offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.
Red Bull Salzburg 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Amstetten know which stage they are at.
In brief
The dugoutRico Strieder asks for a word with the manager
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Amstetten lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Erkin Yalcin 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 Marco Tilio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Niklas Pertlwieser again, and this time the name on the line is SV Ried. Amstetten are listening politely and promising nothing.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amstetten, another week without a signature from Mirko Kos.
Amstetten have made the call to First Vienna. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Amstetten has been clear about where George Davies stands, which is more than many ever get.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Erkin Yalcin has moved up it.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tilio 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.