Marked for Rob Stoop
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Defensive actions: 41. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market9 Sep 2030
Dmitry Sadov 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 Wolfsberger AC can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rene Renner and Wolfsberger AC agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wolfsberger AC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Sep 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sankara Karamoko. 1‑0 against Mattersburg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Sep 2030
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Sadov
“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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“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; Wolfsberger AC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Martin Ilsanker has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Mattersburg can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Mattersburg
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market4 Feb 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Feb 2030
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. SV Ried moved on, Konrad Hinteregger reports back to Mattersburg, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad4 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ange Chiesa and Mattersburg agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mattersburg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Mattersburg pull $2.7M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market4 Feb 2030
Mattersburg spent the window trying to move Gerrit Gohlke on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Dec 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 Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mattersburg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Philipp Alaba 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 Dec 2029
Essien Bassey 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.
Market31 Dec 2029
Mattersburg have made Job ter Burg available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market31 Dec 2029
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Mattersburg money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Dec 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lukas Wedl and Mattersburg agree another 2 years.
Market3 Dec 2029
Rob Stoop has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mattersburg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Lukas Wedl 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Maximilian Prass is 36, with 56 appearances behind him, and Mattersburg will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Essien Bassey has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Mattersburg that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Nov 2029
A one-man rearguard from Lukas Wedl
There were 9 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
No end in sight to Mattersburg's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mattersburg has to find a result from somewhere.
Market5 Nov 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.
Market5 Nov 2029
Rob Stoop has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mattersburg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Nov 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 Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Nov 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
Sturm Graz left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Mattersburg 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
Market21 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 Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 May 2029
Lukas Wedl 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 Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Kévin Hoggas 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.