Marked for Filip Baniowski
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Nov 2028
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.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krystian Bielik 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Nov 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ángel Rodado. 2‑1 against Korona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match11 Nov 2028
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Ángel Rodado had Wisla Krakow level again within 3 minutes, and Korona never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout13 Nov 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.” Rafal Szymanski kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Ángel Rodado has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Wisla Krakow 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Apr 2028
42 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Match8 Apr 2028
Nobody wants to play Wisla Krakow right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Marko Božić 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
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 terraces10 Apr 2028
He is 21 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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Marked 7.71 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Wisla Krakow had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rafal Szymanski on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Feb 2028
Chastening afternoon for Wisla Krakow
A 1‑4 beating by Raków Częstochowa was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Eneme-Bocari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Jakub Krzyżanowski 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Ángel Rodado
“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.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Baniowski and Wisla Krakow agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Marko Božić 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 Marko Božić is on it.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Kacper Duda 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 Kacper Duda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.