It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rapperswil-Jona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stéphane Cueni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Rapperswil-Jona know it.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Carlos Quiñónez's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jetro Willems is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rapperswil-Jona can pretend not to have heard.
Jonathan Fontana 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabio Lymann trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Rapperswil-Jona and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
In brief
SquadQuestions about José Muro on the training pitch
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Cueni 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.
Mats Seiler has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Rapperswil-Jona could ask drops and the wages Jorge Armoa can ask rise.
Position 5 on 24 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rapperswil-Jona can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lausanne-Sport is saying, and nobody at Rapperswil-Jona is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stéphane Cueni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Basel have kept their man, and Rapperswil-Jona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rapperswil-Jona, another week without a signature from Jorge Armoa.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Josué trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
24 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“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 Rapperswil-Jona, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Lausanne-Sport is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rapperswil-Jona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Cueni 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.
Rapperswil-Jona asked and Basel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Haymenn Bah-Traore is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rapperswil-Jona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything agreed with Lausanne-Sport, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Jonathan Fontana 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.
Rapperswil-Jona asked and Thun said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Biek 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.
“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; Rapperswil-Jona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ryan Adewusi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rapperswil-Jona, another week without a signature from Juan González.
Jonathan Fontana 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saidy Janko 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.
“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; Rapperswil-Jona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rapperswil-Jona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Jonathan Fontana 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamin Camolli has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Samuel Biek 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rapperswil-Jona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A 1‑0 win over Stade Lausanne-Ouchy, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Samuel Biek 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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Rapperswil-Jona prefer.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Rapperswil-Jona pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Silvan Fassnacht on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Biek 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rapperswil-Jona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 4, 14 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rapperswil-Jona, another week without a signature from Sergio Barajas.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Wil, and it could have been more.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
A brace, and Nicolás Luján takes the afternoon — 8.67
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicolás Luján provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ralf Fährmann and Rapperswil-Jona agree another 2 years.
Josué and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Samuel Biek 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.