“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zabbar St. Patrick can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zabbar St. Patrick can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zabbar St. Patrick they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zabbar St. Patrick can pretend not to have heard.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jake Micallef trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“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 The request is on a desk at Zabbar St. Patrick, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bruno Figueiredo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zabbar St. Patrick can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zabbar St. Patrick, another week without a signature from Joe Nicholson.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Bruno Figueiredo 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.
Marked 8.92 — 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.
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.
0‑4 against Sliema Wanderers, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 23 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zabbar St. Patrick has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
27 years old, every age group at this club behind him, and a borrowed player of much the same standard in front of him every Saturday. The parents in the stand have noticed, and so has every kid below him.
Hamrun Spartans are out and Zabbar St. Patrick go through, 2‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.96 — 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Marked 8.56 — 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.
He is 16, and nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Dominic Psaila is 16, and Zabbar St. Patrick have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“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 Zabbar St. Patrick, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bruno Figueiredo 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zabbar St. Patrick, another week without a signature from Strahinja Jovančić.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jake Micallef has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Zabbar St. Patrick.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Luís Mota
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Zabbar St. Patrick would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.