Marked for Benjamin Göschl
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Grodig, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Benjamin Göschl 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Grodig
Alexander Schwaighofer 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Grodig
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christoph Ochrana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Vlado Graboviča
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
David Drljić 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 Grodig, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Petter Nosa Dahl and Rapid Wien agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Bendegúz Bolla 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Rapid Wien
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Gulliksen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market28 Dec 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Platense will make the call about Svetoslav Vutsov this week. Rapid Wien have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 Bendegúz Bolla is on it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Đorđe Jovanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rapid Wien know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market28 Dec 2026
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Rapid Wien could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Christoph Ochrana 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
Léon Pöhls 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Grodig
Benjamin Göschl 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Christoph Ochrana 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Red Bull Salzburg left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamin Göschl, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Grodig told Alexander Schwaighofer something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Grodig pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Thomas Ilsanker, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Grodig would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match7 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Grodig
Position 10 and 7 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Market7 Dec 2026
David Drljić hands in a written request
“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 Dec 2026
Thomas Ilsanker, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
This is not rotation. David Drljić has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Grodig is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Grodig
Benjamin Göschl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Christoph Ochrana 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Grodig against Altach
1‑2 to Altach, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
At last: Grodig win one
15 matches without a win, and then this, against Admira Wacker. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match28 Nov 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Thomas Ilsanker scored in the 85th minute, Admira Wacker had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Grodig took the lot.
Market30 Nov 2026
“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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Thomas Ilsanker, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Grodig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christoph Ochrana 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Three points for Grodig, 2‑1 the final word against Admira Wacker in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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
Market16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Grodig
Alexander Schwaighofer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Christoph Ochrana 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Léon Pöhls
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Benjamin Göschl is on it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
The leaders are next for Grodig
Wolfsberger AC top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nino Lesjak’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Grodig needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thomas Niedermüller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Vlado Graboviča has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Arne Maier 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tobias Gulliksen 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Furkan Demir is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amīn-Elias Gröller, and the manager let it.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bendegúz Bolla signs something — a contract at Rapid Wien or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rapid Wien. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Match16 Nov 2026
Continental football is in reach for Rapid Wien
17 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Marco Tilio 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 Marco Tilio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
10 starts and an average of 6.59. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Grodig's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Grodig has to find a result from somewhere.
Match9 Nov 2026
Grodig are in real trouble now
Position 10, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑6 to Sturm Graz, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There were 8 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
David Drljić hands in a written request
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Grodig
Alexander Schwaighofer 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Grodig and Sturm Graz in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Grodig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christoph Ochrana 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Grodig dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The form table has caught Alexander Schwaighofer
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
13 matches without a win for Grodig
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Grodig are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Thomas Ilsanker at 19 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Ilsanker did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match31 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Grodig against SV Ried
1‑3 to SV Ried, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Grodig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christoph Ochrana 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
A six-pointer for Grodig
Sturm Graz next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grodig, another week without a signature from Anthony Scully.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gernot Ilsanker after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Grodig's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Grodig has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Grodig
Benjamin Göschl 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 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Grodig
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christoph Ochrana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Anthony Scully was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match24 Oct 2026
It needed Anthony Scully to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mattersburg, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
11 matches without a win for Grodig
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Grodig are no longer polite ones.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Vlado Graboviča: 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.” Grodig have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Oct 2026
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Grodig cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Grodig
Benjamin Göschl 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Grodig
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christoph Ochrana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Grodig
Position 10 and 3 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Grodig
Benjamin Göschl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Christoph Ochrana 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Léon Pöhls 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market12 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Grodig
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Grodig are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match3 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Grodig
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Grodig can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Grodig
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christoph Ochrana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Oct 2026
Halfway: Grodig sit in position 10
3 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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 dugout5 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Grodig's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Grodig has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
David Hillebrand: 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.” Grodig have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Grodig
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Grodig
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christoph Ochrana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market28 Sep 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Maximilian Gsenger has his answer from Grodig; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maximilian Gsenger, and the manager let it.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Léon Pöhls does not fit this one
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Looking ahead
Benjamin Göschl faces his old club
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Sep 2026
Every point is an argument now for Grodig
Position 10 and 1 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
David Drljić hands in a written request
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Grodig's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Grodig has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Sep 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Christoph Ochrana 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Léon Pöhls 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Grodig are still strangers to each other
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Robert Völkl hands in a written request
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Grodig until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Grodig have done the hard part with SV Ried, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Köln is saying, and nobody at Grodig is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Alexander Schwaighofer, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Grodig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christoph Ochrana 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“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 Grodig will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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 Benjamin Göschl is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Benjamin Göschl: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match26 Aug 2026
Grodig out of the cup
SV Ried ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Grodig
6 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Red Bull Salzburg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Basel keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Grodig go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Grodig
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christoph Ochrana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Grodig's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Grodig has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Grodig
Vlado Graboviča 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Grodig will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Grodig asked and SV Ried said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Grodig
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexander Schwaighofer, and the manager let it.
Match22 Aug 2026
Level with 96 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Grodig had all but put away. Sturm Graz will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Squad24 Aug 2026
No place for Anthony Scully in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Grodig are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Rapid Wien, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Grodig
Justin Möbius and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
Grodig cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rapid Wien have kept their man, and Grodig go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Léon Pöhls, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Grodig
9 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.