Marked for Noah Phillips
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match2 Oct 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Luis Palma scored in the 87th minute, Zaglebie had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Cracovia took the lot.
Market4 Oct 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 Cracovia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Cracovia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Palma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Mauro Perković back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Cracovia has worked with Mauro Perković before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Match2 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luis Palma. 1‑0 against Zaglebie, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Cracovia
Noah Phillips and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“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 ratings4 Oct 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.87 on the card, and the Cracovia support went home talking about one name.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cracovia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market6 Sep 2027
Cracovia say no — this time
The offer from Sturm Graz for Luis Palma was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market6 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Cracovia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The offer went to OB this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Cracovia close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 22 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Otar Kakabadze 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
The shirt still fits. Mauro Perković is back at Cracovia, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Cracovia have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Cracovia
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.
Match31 Jul 2027
Cracovia make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cracovia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market2 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Martin Minchev again, and this time the name on the line is Beroe. Cracovia are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 Cracovia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Aug 2027
Business is business: Dawid Kaczor goes
Stal Mielec paid $570.0K and Cracovia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Luis Palma 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. GKS Tychy have kept their man, and Cracovia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market2 Aug 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gabriel Charpentier has his answer from Cracovia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cracovia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Odra Opole had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market19 Jul 2027
Ruch come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Cracovia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market19 Jul 2027
Dawid Kaczor 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 Cracovia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Cracovia
Otar Kakabadze 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 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Cracovia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sayfallah Ltaief was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Cracovia asked and Atromitos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Loan watch19 Jul 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Cracovia, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Dawid Kaczor
“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
Market28 Jun 2027
Mateusz Klich 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 Cracovia can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and Cracovia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Noah Phillips is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Cracovia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sayfallah Ltaief was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Cracovia
Martin Minchev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market28 Jun 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Damian Moder has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market28 Jun 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dawid Linetty is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“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
Market21 Jun 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market21 Jun 2027
Ruch come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Cracovia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market21 Jun 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Cracovia asked and Miedź Legnica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Vincent Burlet 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Cracovia
Mateusz Klich and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market21 Jun 2027
Pogon pay $660.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Cracovia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Palma 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Cracovia have made the call to PAOK. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Cracovia
Otar Kakabadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dawid Kaczor is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Cracovia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Palma 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.
Market31 May 2027
24 games and 4 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad31 May 2027
Cracovia are still strangers to each other
6 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 dugout31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Noah Phillips
“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.
Market31 May 2027
The shop window has Ajdin Hasić in it
Cracovia have let the market know Ajdin Hasić can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout31 May 2027
Dijon Kameri 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 Dijon Kameri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mauro Perković signs something — a contract at Cracovia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cracovia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match10 Apr 2027
Cracovia make home a hard place to visit
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Cracovia
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Cracovia
Otar Kakabadze 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
Luis Palma 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 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Noah Phillips
“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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Grzegorz Glik after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad12 Apr 2027
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Cracovia lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. 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
Steady
Market15 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cracovia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Mar 2027
At 22 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Cracovia
Mateusz Klich 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Cracovia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match13 Mar 2027
Cracovia make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Cracovia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Minchev 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Dominik Piła
“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 ratings15 Mar 2027
Marked 7.46. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Cracovia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
Sebastian Madejski has gone, the accounts have $2.0M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market18 Jan 2027
Widzew Łódź paid $2.0M and Cracovia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Noah Phillips arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Noah Phillips has, at Cracovia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market18 Jan 2027
The chase for Oliwier Kwiatkowski ended with $700.0K changing hands and Polonia Bytom out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Cracovia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at TSG Hoffenheim, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Cracovia
Otar Kakabadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market18 Jan 2027
Raków Częstochowa pay $340.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Cracovia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Palma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.