Marked for Moritz Würdinger
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Apr 2028
Maximilian Laimer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vicente Valor commits to Stripfing for another 3 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christoph Junuzovic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Wages eat 106% of everything Stripfing earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Too much change too quickly at Stripfing
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastian Wimmer, and the manager let it.
Market3 Apr 2028
Romeo Vučić linked with a move away
The name of Romeo Vučić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Stripfing say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stripfing. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Moritz Würdinger asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Dec 2027
Stripfing throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Wolfsberger AC the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Stripfing will enjoy reviewing.
Market20 Dec 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
A brace, and Romeo Vučić takes the afternoon — 8.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Romeo Vučić provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Xaver Wimmer 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Vicente Valor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
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.
Match18 Dec 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Wolfsberger AC leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Stripfing
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Charlie Penman is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximilian Laimer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Stripfing
David Posch and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The clock did what WSG Tirol would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Match11 Sep 2027
It needed Omar Sillah to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Austria Lustenau, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moritz Würdinger, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Vicente Valor's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
No sign of nerves from Alexander Murillo at 20 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexander Murillo did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Amstetten
Joe Lewis 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
Stripfing pay $420.0K, 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Markus Rusek and Amstetten agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Amstetten
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexander Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kapfenberg have kept their man, and Amstetten go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match31 Jul 2027
1‑2 to Austria Lustenau, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.10, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match31 Jul 2027
Still nobody has beaten Stripfing
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market2 Aug 2027
The fee is $420.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Amstetten drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Xaver Wimmer 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Peter Tschernegg has his answer from Stripfing; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match31 Jul 2027
A goal on 91 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moritz Würdinger is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Amstetten
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felix Köchl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
Thomas Mayer has been promised minutes
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 Thomas Mayer has written the date down.