124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. St. Gallen lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 The request is on a desk at St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fiorentina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joël Schmied 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. St. Gallen had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Raschl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Konrad Faber is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joël Schmied was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at St. Gallen has been clear about where Cyrill May stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at St. Gallen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 30 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Lukas Görtler 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Raschl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.99. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Breel Steffen kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Altin Azemi 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.69, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Remo Arnold 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Joshua Mees will call it something else in private.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Breel Steffen, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” St. Gallen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Altin Azemi 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.
6 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.
Something was said to Tobias Raschl and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for St. Gallen
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Joshua Mees is living that version at St. Gallen, and it tends to show in the first month.
St. Gallen offered $65.0K; Lausanne-Sport said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Joël Schmied 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union Brescia have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Silvan Akanji has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ruben Sommer has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zurich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arminia Bielefeld waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zurich will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zurich have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
12 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.
“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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Zurich have gone to Stade Lausanne-Ouchy with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich heard it as anything else.
St. Gallen have gone to Luzern with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neuchâtel Xamax have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joël Schmied was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. St. Gallen will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Luzern lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Luzern will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑2 against SC Freiburg, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Luzern they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Piotr Zieliński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” St. Gallen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Remo Arnold 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.
“I watch every St. Gallen game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Luzern runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lukas Mühl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stephan Ambrosius trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Konrad Faber 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.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Luzern lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑4. SC Freiburg play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Luzern will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.60 for the rest of it.
Tyron Owusu 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Piotr Zieliński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Luzern 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen 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 Lukas Mühl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at St. Gallen, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Gabriele Colaciuri is 19, and St. Gallen 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. St. Gallen will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Hugo Vandermersch keeps the shirt for now, at St. Gallen's convenience rather than his own.
St. Gallen spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Luzern lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Luzern will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinan Karweina 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 Luzern know it.
Nobody at Luzern 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matteo di Giusto signs something — a contract at Luzern or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Andrea Adorante was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“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 dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Breel Steffen, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at St. Gallen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Étoile Carouge in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at St. Gallen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jozo Stanić signs something — a contract at St. Gallen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Aliou Baldé has written the date down.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at St. Gallen would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A side in position 2 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
In brief
BoardroomThe St. Gallen production line keeps running
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Christian Witzig was one of the reasons people came, and $6.2M does not replace that by itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at St. Gallen would admit. It shows on Saturdays.