Maxim Mitskevich

Attacking Midfielder (L) - Zabbar St. Patrick
25 Jan 2027
Monday
Process

Marked for Maxim Mitskevich

24 Edition

The Zabbar St. Patrick Gazette

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

The unthinkable, invoiced: Bruno Figueiredo sold

Hamrun Spartans arrived with $480.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.

Squad

Léo Fernandes keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zabbar St. Patrick may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

The terraces

Zabbar St. Patrick sell a favourite for $480.0K

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Bruno Figueiredo was one of the reasons people came, and $480.0K does not replace that by itself.

Market

Jonathan Grech 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 Zabbar St. Patrick can pretend not to have heard.

Match

No end in sight to Zabbar St. Patrick's wait for a win

4 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.

Match

Whatever happens, Zabbar St. Patrick do not lose

6 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.

Squad

Words at Zabbar St. Patrick training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Zabbar St. Patrick

Mayron 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.

Market

Zabbar St. Patrick and Maxim Mitskevich are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

Back issues
19 Edition

The Zabbar St. Patrick Gazette

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Strahinja Jovančić damages knee ligaments — 26 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 26 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 ratings

Ayom Majok runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

No end in sight to Zabbar St. Patrick's wait for a win

7 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.

Boardroom

An order from above at Zabbar St. Patrick: somebody has to go

Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.

Squad

Andrey Emeljanov 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 Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Miro Soldo 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.

In brief

15 Edition

The Zabbar St. Patrick Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Léo Fernandes damages knee ligaments — 31 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Zabbar St. Patrick

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.

Squad

Strahinja Jovančić 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.

Player ratings

Bruno Figueiredo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Zabbar St. Patrick and Hibernians take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Squad

Ignacio Colombo 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 Ignacio Colombo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

6 Edition

The Zabbar St. Patrick Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Léo Fernandes damages knee ligaments — 94 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.

Market

Bruno Figueiredo 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 Zabbar St. Patrick can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Bruno Figueiredo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words at Zabbar St. Patrick training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Emeljanov 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.

Squad

Léo Fernandes 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 Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Birkirkara take the points off Zabbar St. Patrick

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

3 Edition

The Zabbar St. Patrick Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Léo Fernandes damages knee ligaments — 115 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 115 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.

Market

Floriana come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Zabbar St. Patrick did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Tempers go at Zabbar St. Patrick

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.

In brief

2 Edition

The Zabbar St. Patrick Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Léo Fernandes

122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zabbar St. Patrick lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Bruno Figueiredo puts it in writing

“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.

Market

Zabbar St. Patrick turn down Birkirkara for Ignacio Colombo

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Tempers go at Zabbar St. Patrick

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.

Squad

Strahinja Jovančić 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.

Market

Still no ink between Zabbar St. Patrick and Strahinja Jovančić

“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.

In brief