Marked for André
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Sep 2029
7 matches without a win for Gzira United
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Gzira United are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 Sep 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fabian Cachia commits to Gzira United for another 3 years.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Tom Chaplin 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2029
There were 7 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.
Match8 Sep 2029
6 matches without a win for Gzira United
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Gzira United are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
One of those days for Zack Henry
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.89 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match8 Sep 2029
A 2‑2 draw with Mosta leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad10 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of André
“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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Shots: 10, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gzira United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Edoardo Colombo 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
André signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” André commits to Gzira United for another 2 years.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Diego Tavares 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 Gzira United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market6 Aug 2029
The Aivars Emsis story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aivars Emsis signs something — a contract at Gzira United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market6 Aug 2029
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Brooklyn Borg leaves Gzira United the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Andrew Borg
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrew Borg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gzira United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Christian Gauci
“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.
Market30 Jul 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Edoardo Colombo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Christoph Wober 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.
Market30 Jul 2029
The clock does Zack Henry’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Gzira United could ask drops and the wages Zack Henry can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 May 2029
“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 Gzira United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lorenzo Schietroma and Gzira United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad28 May 2029
Marc Van de Bovenkamp 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 May 2029
Gzira United are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 37 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad21 May 2029
Jack McDowell 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Apr 2029
“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 Gzira United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Apr 2029
André: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gzira United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market9 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Andrew Borg
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrew Borg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gzira United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Apr 2029
Marc Van de Bovenkamp 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“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.
Market2 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gzira United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Feb 2029
Gzira United are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 37 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market26 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Edoardo Colombo 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Zack Henry 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.
Market26 Feb 2029
Gzira United have made Zack Henry available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gzira United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Diego Tavares 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“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.
Market12 Feb 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Edoardo Colombo signs something — a contract at Gzira United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
-
Squad
André knocks on the manager's door
-
Market
The window shut and Bertin Nguemaleu is still in the building
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Dec 2028
Hibernians ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market11 Dec 2028
“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 Gzira United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Edoardo Colombo: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match9 Dec 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad11 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
A performance of 8.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad11 Dec 2028
9 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
Squad11 Dec 2028
André 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
André signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” André commits to Gzira United for another 2 years.
Market7 Aug 2028
The Aivars Emsis talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gzira United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market7 Aug 2028
24 months and counting on André
Still no offer on the table, and André’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 38 with 9 appearances behind him, and Gzira United have to plan for both answers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 30 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market27 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market27 Dec 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harry Whitworth will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gzira United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Dec 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 Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad27 Dec 2027
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad27 Dec 2027
The team sheet said everything about Fabrício Kanté
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 Fabrício Kanté.