Marked for Anderson
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 May 2028
Noah Botic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Blau-Weiß Linz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Del Moral 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 dugout22 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Anderson
“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 dugout22 May 2028
Shon Weissman 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.
Market22 May 2028
The Noah Botic story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Noah Botic signs something — a contract at Blau-Weiß Linz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 May 2028
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 Thomas Goiginger is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Dec 2027
7 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.
Market27 Dec 2027
João Luiz puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Blau-Weiß Linz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tom Hülsmann and Blau-Weiß Linz agree another 5 years.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Blau-Weiß Linz can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Noah Botic was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alberto Del Moral was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch27 Dec 2027
“I did not go to Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz to sit and watch. I want to come back to Blau-Weiß Linz and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The team sheet said everything about Anderson
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Anderson.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Simon Seidl
7.25, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Blau-Weiß Linz had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 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 Blau-Weiß Linz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match28 Aug 2027
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Noah Botic in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Blau-Weiß Linz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Anderson signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anderson and Blau-Weiß Linz agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. West Bromwich Albion have kept their man, and Blau-Weiß Linz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match28 Aug 2027
Austria Wien left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Isak Dahlqvist 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alem Pašič, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
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 Andreas Lindner left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Sven Köhler and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Blau-Weiß Linz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isak Dahlqvist 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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of David Bumberger
“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 dugout3 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market3 May 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout3 May 2027
Simon Seidl knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Blau-Weiß Linz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
“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 Blau-Weiß Linz know it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Noah Botic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout19 Apr 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.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
27 starts and a season average of 6.81. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“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 Blau-Weiß Linz will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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 Bumberger has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Dominik Reiter and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isak Dahlqvist was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Jonas Wendlinger 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Radulović, and the manager let it.
Market12 Apr 2027
The Noah Botic story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Noah Botic signs something — a contract at Blau-Weiß Linz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“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 Blau-Weiß Linz will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Blau-Weiß Linz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Word from the training ground: Dominik Reiter
The sharpest man in every session this week, by all accounts. Lines like this run the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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 Blau-Weiß Linz know it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Noah Botic in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Blau-Weiß Linz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Blau-Weiß Linz can tell you which week it ends in.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Sturm Graz, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Anderson signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anderson and Blau-Weiß Linz agree another 3 years.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Noah Botic runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Andreas Lindner to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nico Maier, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Blau-Weiß Linz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Noah Botic 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Blau-Weiß Linz can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isak Dahlqvist was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Blau-Weiß Linz is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ronivaldo and Blau-Weiß Linz agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.22, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Anderson gets it from the manager
“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 dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Andreas Lindner was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Blau-Weiß Linz dressing room was either.