Marked for António Lara
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Feb 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 The request is on a desk at Floriana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Feb 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 Floriana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Gamarra 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to António Lara, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Jake Grech has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Floriana will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market15 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mustapha Jah’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Floriana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kenan Dervišagić 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kauan 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gonzalo Gamarra
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Floriana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Nobody could get near Paul Mbong
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
António Lara: 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.” Floriana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market18 Jan 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 Floriana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 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 Floriana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mustapha Jah’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market18 Jan 2027
Floriana have made Myles Beerman available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Floriana do not lose
20 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gonzalo Gamarra
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Floriana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Paul Mbong runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match4 Jan 2027
Floriana refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 39 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Floriana will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Fede Varela 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Floriana have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
$68.5K on the table at Floriana
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Floriana do not lose
17 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match12 Dec 2026
Floriana march on in the cup
Hamrun Spartans are out and Floriana go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match9 Dec 2026
Cup progress for Floriana
A 1‑0 win over Hamrun Spartans, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Paul Mbong
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Rui Areias, 33, rolls back the years — 7.80
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Guilherme Cioletti 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Iago Mendonça
“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.
Squad14 Dec 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
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Paul Mbong runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Dec 2026
Floriana refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match5 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Floriana right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad7 Dec 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 Floriana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Dec 2026
A 2‑0 win over Naxxar Lions, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match5 Dec 2026
Floriana make home a hard place to visit
8 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kauan 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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
$68.5K on the table at Floriana
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Oct 2026
Floriana are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 15 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Myles Beerman breaks a bone — 58 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Jake Grech runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Floriana do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad12 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 Floriana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of António Lara
“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
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Myles Beerman breaks a bone — 81 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Kenan Dervišagić 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlo Zammit Lonardelli 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alen Kurtalić, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.16 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Floriana had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Paul Mbong
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Myles Beerman out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Floriana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Sep 2026
Aktobe come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Floriana did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Sep 2026
Jakob Cioffi 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 Floriana can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Guilherme Cioletti 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Floriana will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kouya Mabea 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.23 on the card, and the Floriana support went home talking about one name.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Charles M'Mombwa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.