Marked for Daniel Leitz
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Feb 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.
Market21 Feb 2028
Marcus Grima has one foot out of the door
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Érico Júnior 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 Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Feb 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felix Chester, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 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 The request is on a desk at Tarxien Rainbows, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Érico Júnior 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 Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Luigi Pedaci
“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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“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.
Market7 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Wesley’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jan 2028
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kwasi Donsu, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andrea Cassar commits to Tarxien Rainbows for another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tarxien Rainbows may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Jan 2028
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Tarxien Rainbows are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Jan 2028
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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Andreas Vella has left for Valletta in a $18.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Wesley shuts the door
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“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 ratings17 Jan 2028
The afternoon belonged to Petar Panić
A mark of 7.43, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market17 Jan 2028
Daniel Leitz arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Nov 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 Grodig, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Nov 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 Grodig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ben Yagan and Grodig agree another 2 years.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Dominik Stöger knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Denis-Will Poha will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Sep 2027
Every point is an argument now for Grodig
Position 9 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Grodig
Rodrigo Mazur 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 Sep 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Patrick Touray commits to Grodig for another 3 years.
Market6 Sep 2027
Admira Wacker paid $37.0K and Grodig took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Marked 8.87 — 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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for Daniel Leitz, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match4 Sep 2027
It needed Gonçalo Paciência to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Wolfsberger AC, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 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 Grodig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Aug 2027
48 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Rodrigo Mazur
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 63 days on the sidelines for Daniel Leitz, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Jul 2027
Grodig sink to position 8
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market5 Jul 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 Grodig, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jul 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 Grodig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
80 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Patrick Touray commits to Grodig for another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The medical room confirms 94 days on the sidelines for Daniel Leitz, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Mar 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 Grodig, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Grodig
Rodrigo Mazur 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Daniel Leitz
“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.
Market29 Mar 2027
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A season on the outside for Vahid Karimi
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Grodig has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market29 Mar 2027
Grodig have let the market know Gabriel Lukačević can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2027
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad22 Mar 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 Grodig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grodig can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
90 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad25 Jan 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 Grodig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grodig can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jan 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 Grodig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grodig can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Grodig
Sebastian Bauer 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
193% of the income goes out in wages at Grodig
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Felix Wimmer
“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 ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match5 Sep 2026
It needed Gonçalo Paciência 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jack Holmes knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jack Holmes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Grodig will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gonçalo Paciência and Grodig agree another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Grodig
Gonçalo Paciência 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonçalo Paciência, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.