Érico Júnior was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Érico Júnior and Tarxien Rainbows agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Érico Júnior was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 18, and nobody at Tarxien Rainbows signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Tarxien Rainbows will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Érico Júnior 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Érico Júnior was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tarxien Rainbows can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcus Grima will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tarxien Rainbows the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tarxien Rainbows are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Érico Júnior 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.
Érico Júnior 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tarxien Rainbows they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Érico Júnior 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.
“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 Tarxien Rainbows, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kurt Zammit and Tarxien Rainbows agree another 1 years.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Daniel Leitz is 35, with 12 appearances behind him, and Tarxien Rainbows will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Érico Júnior 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.
“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 Tarxien Rainbows, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcus Grima will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tarxien Rainbows the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tarxien Rainbows are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Érico Júnior was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tarxien Rainbows can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tarxien Rainbows have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Érico Júnior was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tarxien Rainbows are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luigi Pedaci and Tarxien Rainbows agree another 3 years.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Tarxien Rainbows pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Tarxien Rainbows, and it is not being withdrawn.
Érico Júnior was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kurt Zammit and Tarxien Rainbows agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tarxien Rainbows has to find a result from somewhere.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Kyle Gatt is a Tarxien Rainbows player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fabian Salmon and Tarxien Rainbows agree another 4 years.
In brief
Boardroom85% of the income goes out in wages at Tarxien Rainbows
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.
Érico Júnior was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tarxien Rainbows are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Tarxien Rainbows has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabian Salmon will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tarxien Rainbows the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Érico Júnior 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wesley signs something — a contract at Tarxien Rainbows or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabian Salmon trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Kwasi Donsu 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.
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
A new face in his position, and Wesley suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Tarxien Rainbows have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Played out of position, hooked on the hour, asked to be somebody he is not — the details vary and the mood does not. Tarxien Rainbows have a player doing his work under protest.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Tarxien Rainbows could ask drops and the wages Fabian Salmon can ask rise.
Bongani Cele 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Tarxien Rainbows has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Araz Ismayilov arrives at Tarxien Rainbows with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabian Salmon will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tarxien Rainbows the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tarxien Rainbows can pretend not to have heard.
Érico Júnior 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tarxien Rainbows is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bongani Cele and Tarxien Rainbows agree another 4 years.
Yilson Mosquera was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A 1‑0 win over Zabbar St. Patrick, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tarxien Rainbows can pretend not to have heard.
Yilson Mosquera 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 captaincy has been taken off Érico Júnior. Tarxien Rainbows will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tarxien Rainbows 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 Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Érico Júnior and Tarxien Rainbows agree another 2 years.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Miroslav Marković will call it something else in private.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zabbar St. Patrick? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Marko Musulin has let it be known that he does not like the way Tarxien Rainbows are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Anthony Lokosa. 2‑1 against Sliema Wanderers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marko Musulin 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
A 2‑0 win over Hamrun Spartans, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tarxien Rainbows know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Marked 8.77 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bongani Cele and Tarxien Rainbows agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Patrick Schmidt 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tarxien Rainbows, another week without a signature from Petar Panić.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tarxien Rainbows has been clear about where Kyle Gatt stands, which is more than many ever get.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.