“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 The request is on a desk at Malženice, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Malženice may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Rocco Baravelli, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. DAC Dunajska Streda have kept their man, and Malženice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Samuel Bednár 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malženice can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Xhuljo Tabaku 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 3‑2 win over Baník Lehota pod Vtáčnikom, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Malženice asked and DAC Dunajska Streda 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Fábry was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Malženice have made the call to Slovan Bratislava. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Malženice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Malženice will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Fábry 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 words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Malženice will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boris Druga 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Michal Sestak after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutNicolas Kurej asks for a word with the manager
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malženice can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Bednár 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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 dugout27 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Michal Sestak chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
Looking aheadMalženice take on the side everybody is chasing
The words a physio says slowly. 122 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Fábry 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.
“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.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Michal Sestak chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Malženice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malženice can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Karlo Habijanec has just signed for Malženice, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Fábry 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.
A 2‑0 win over Považská Bystrica, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The terraces28 Aug 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malženice can pretend not to have heard.
Malženice offered $150.0K; Spartak Trnava 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Trencin have kept their man, and Malženice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$290.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
He is going to HamKam, the club has $290.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Malženice had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Podbrezova, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Boris Druga 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 Marek Fábry was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Malženice people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malženice can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with FC Košice 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.
Boris Druga 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Malženice offered $19.0K; MFK Zvolen 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MFK Ruzomberok have kept their man, and Malženice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“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 Malženice, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Milan Sekera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Malženice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Inter Bratislava is saying, and nobody at Malženice is enjoying the guessing.
Xhuljo Tabaku 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.
Malženice offered $55.0K; Slovan Bratislava 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.
Malženice asked and Spartak Trnava 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Fábry was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Malženice can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Gregor Tóth is in the works
“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 Malženice, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is going to Tatran Prešov, the club has $110.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Tatran Prešov pay $110.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Malženice asked and Inter Bratislava 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Milan Sekera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Malženice have made the call to MFK Ruzomberok. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Samuel Bednár has just signed for Malženice, and for once the answer mattered.
Boris Druga 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 Xhuljo Tabaku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Malženice are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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 Peter Sukovský has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marek Fábry signs something — a contract at Malženice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Xhuljo Tabaku 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.
At 39, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad22 May 2028
Milan Sekera 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolas Kurej trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Malženice know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Matúš Capko 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xhuljo Tabaku 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Martin Chudý is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Malženice, another week without a signature from Erest Lamellari.
Xhuljo Tabaku 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Johannessen Skogen 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Malženice know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 39, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Xhuljo Tabaku 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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 Malženice, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kryštof Judas did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Malženice has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Malženice close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice 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 Milan Sekera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Malženice has been clear about where Jakub Port stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Malženice, and it is not being withdrawn.
Malženice had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zlate Moravce, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Peter Sukovský 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.
Malženice asked and Zlate Moravce 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Xhuljo Tabaku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
0‑2 to Stará Ľubovňa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Milan Sekera 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Malženice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Xhuljo Tabaku 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.
1‑3 to Šamorín, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mário Henyig 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Peter Sukovský knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Malženice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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; Malženice are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Peter Sukovský 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.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Malženice lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matúš Capko 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martin Chudý trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Malženice know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Malženice lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Peter Sukovský and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xhuljo Tabaku 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.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Michal Sestak left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Malženice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Marek Fábry’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Malženice.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Marek Fábry 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.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Malženice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0-5. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Nicolas Kurej delivers — 7.61
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nicolas Kurej scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MSK Zilina have kept their man, and Malženice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Malženice lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MSK Zilina have kept their man, and Malženice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Polydefkis Volanakis, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Šimon Gabriš 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.
“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.
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
The offer from Pohronie for Nicolas Kurej was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Marek Fábry 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.
9 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Malženice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Martin Gomola 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Malženice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Malženice lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Malženice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Malženice can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Martin Gomola 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Marek Fábry 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.