A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Marsa have done the hard part with Birkirkara, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marsa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ensar Tafili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 The request is on a desk at Marsa, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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; Marsa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marsa asked and Floriana 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 Ronny Taperaçu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Younes Yasser Abdel Rahman 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
“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; Marsa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel 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 Marsa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Marsa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronny Taperaçu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
“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 Marsa know it.
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 Heinz Alaba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Marsa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Marsa can pretend not to have heard.
“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; Marsa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronny Taperaçu 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.
Squad3 May 2027
A last season at home is what Heinz Alaba is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Marsa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. David José has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chukwuemeka Junior Eke trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Marsa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 10 on 40 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ryley Reynolds did not need any: 8.12, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David José. 2‑1 against Swieqi United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 21 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.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Marsa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Brendan Schneider did not need any: 8.32, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Younes Yasser Abdel Rahman 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.
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Marsa 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.” Marsa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Marsa know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” James Sultana after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Marsa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 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.
“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 Marsa know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronny Taperaçu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zebbug Rangers held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Marsa answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Craig Abdilla 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” James Sultana after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Marsa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel 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 Dylan Ciappara trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel 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: 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Marsa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Marsa, another week without a signature from Ryley Reynolds.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Mtarfa next, and one man in the Marsa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything agreed with Marsaxlokk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Lucas Bala 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David José. 2‑1 against Melita, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
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.
Ryan Thompson 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.” James Sultana kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Marsa have done the hard part with Balzan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David José was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Marsa will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Marsa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Marsa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The deal with Pieta Hotspurs 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Marsaxlokk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David José was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Craig Abdilla 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.
At 21 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.
“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; Marsa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Lucas Bala 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.
Luke Anthony Muscat 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.
Sirens left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by James Sultana to a room that had heard them before.
David José 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.
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.
Luke Anthony Muscat 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.
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
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 James Sultana left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 7.79 for the rest of it.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Marsa and St. Andrews in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
David José was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.77. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David José 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 Marsa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Brendan Schneider 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.
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Bala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Luke Anthony Muscat 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.
Craig Abdilla 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, James Sultana could afford to be generous.
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
David José 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.
Ryan Thompson 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.
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Marsa will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Chukwuemeka Junior Eke has come out of that comparison in the side, and Marsa have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
“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; Marsa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David José 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Chukwuemeka Junior Eke 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brendan Schneider. 1‑0 against Gudja United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” James Sultana on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Zebbug Rangers will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and David José takes the afternoon — 8.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David José provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Bala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Craig Abdilla 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Marsa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David José 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 Marsa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutRyan Thompson asks for a word with the manager
“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 Marsa, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Marsa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad9 Nov 2026
David José 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.
Luke Anthony Muscat 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.
“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.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Marsa told Stephen Eikwu-Ojo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A mark of 7.84 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Lucas Bala 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.
Stephen Eikwu-Ojo 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. David José had Marsa level again within 1 minutes, and Santa Lucia never got to play with a lead at all.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Marsa will try not to make too much of it.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
David José 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by James Sultana to a room that had heard them before.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Marsa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
A mark of 8.18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Bala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” James Sultana on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Marsa have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
6 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ryan Thompson is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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 Marsa know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
David José 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.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David José 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” James Sultana after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Craig Abdilla 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.
Balzan next, and one man in the Marsa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Bala 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Craig Abdilla 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” James Sultana after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Birzebbuga St. Peter's defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Marsa has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David José 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Glenn Grima 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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Marsa were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Stephen Eikwu-Ojo 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Marsa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Plateau United have kept their man, and Marsa 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 Ronny Taperaçu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Marsa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Marsa, another week without a signature from Lucas Bala.
7 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.