Marked for Braidy Connell-Webster
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Oct 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Valletta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Oct 2028
5 matches without a win for Valletta
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Valletta are no longer polite ones.
Market23 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Valletta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Faysel Kasmi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Oct 2028
1‑2 to Gzira United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Marked 8.83 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emmanuel Mbende, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Braidy Connell-Webster and Valletta agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valletta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Inhulets
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Dmytro Kasimov 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.
Market3 Apr 2028
Harry Aubry is 19, and Inhulets 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Illia Hadzhuk
“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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Inhulets will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Vitalii Katrych asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
Yurii Tlumak: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Inhulets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market27 Mar 2028
Diogo puts it in writing
“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 Inhulets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Mar 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market27 Mar 2028
Braidy Connell-Webster is 20, and Inhulets 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.
Market27 Mar 2028
He is 19, and nobody at Inhulets signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad27 Mar 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.