Marked for Hernanny
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 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 Floriana can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jul 2027
The name of Gonzalo Gamarra has come up in conversations Floriana were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad26 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Floriana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gonzalo Gamarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Home is on Hernanny's mind
“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; Floriana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Paul Mbong 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 Floriana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Pablo Picón 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The Robert Murić story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Robert Murić signs something — a contract at Floriana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Jul 2027
Floriana have made Owen Spiteri available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 May 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 Floriana can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 May 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.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Floriana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gonzalo Gamarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
Home is on Hernanny's mind
“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; Floriana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Robert Murić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 May 2027
Kekuta Manneh gets picked when it counts
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 Kekuta Manneh is on it.
The dugout24 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Floriana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad24 May 2027
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Floriana and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
The dugout24 May 2027
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Gabriel Justino plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Floriana
Kenan Dervišagić 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Mattia Veselji 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Hernanny wants to go home
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Floriana can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Zachary Scerri
“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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Mattia Veselji 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
The Robert Murić talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Floriana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Jan 2027
Floriana up to position 2
33 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market25 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Floriana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Kauan 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 Floriana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
This is not rotation. Luca Accarino has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Floriana is pretending otherwise.
Looking ahead25 Jan 2027
Top-of-the-table clash for Floriana
Sliema Wanderers next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luís Soares 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Paul Mbong
“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
-
Squad
Hernanny wants to go home
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
The dugout
Mattia Veselji has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Guilherme Cioletti damages knee ligaments — 105 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 105 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Paul Mbong runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Floriana
Kenan Dervišagić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Floriana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Murić 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 dugout21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Floriana are still strangers to each other
10 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Vittoriosa Stars to sit and watch. I want to come back to Floriana and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.