Daniel Duvnjak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Emin Spahić 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.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Emin Spahić 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aaron Pace was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Zebbug Rangers this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Melita next, and one man in the Zebbug Rangers dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Daniel Duvnjak 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 medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Bafana Zitha, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
0‑1 to Fgura United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Steve Cachia to a room that had heard them before.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Duane Bonnici will call it something else in private.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lucas Pollizzi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Daniel Duvnjak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zebbug Rangers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zebbug Rangers can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lucas Pollizzi is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Daniel Duvnjak 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Shaka Zulu. 2‑0 against Zurrieq, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Tarxien Rainbows, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aaron Pace was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Steve Cachia on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Xhoel Hajdari
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
He is 23 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.
A 1‑0 win over Vittoriosa Stars, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Steve Cachia on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zebbug Rangers, 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.
Daniel Duvnjak 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.
Zebbug Rangers asked and Pieta Hotspurs 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 Emin Spahić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 Feb 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.” Steve Cachia 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 Zebbug Rangers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Gudja United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“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 Zebbug Rangers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Zebbug Rangers until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Emin Spahić 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.
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. Vittoriosa Stars have kept their man, and Zebbug Rangers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deal with Balzan 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.
Emin Spahić 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.
Zebbug Rangers asked and Naxxar Lions said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Seketso Moremi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
In brief
SquadAaron Pace falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutJoshua Gaku asks for a word with the manager
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
A brace, and Bafana Zitha takes the afternoon — 8.91
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bafana Zitha provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Everything agreed with Hamrun Spartans, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Thomas Tegwi 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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: 27. 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Zebbug Rangers have had the benefit of it.
Daniel Duvnjak 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oratile Rantasi. 1‑0 against Marsaxlokk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A brace, and Bafana Zitha takes the afternoon — 9.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bafana Zitha provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Steve Cachia could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zebbug Rangers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Bafana Zitha has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
92 minutes played. Oratile Rantasi found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Fgura United went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zebbug Rangers can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
He is 23 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zebbug Rangers have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Daniel Duvnjak 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 Emin Spahić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zebbug Rangers know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Zebbug Rangers will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Zebbug Rangers now.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Pace 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Zebbug Rangers has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Daniel Duvnjak 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 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. 13 actions, 6.95, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Emin Spahić 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.
200 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.
Daniel Duvnjak 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Emin Spahić 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Oratile Rantasi 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.
Marked 8.25 — 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.
The dugout1 Nov 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.” Steve Cachia, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Emin Spahić 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Lucas Pollizzi has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Aaron Pace 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zebbug Rangers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Emin Spahić 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 15. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Shaka Zulu could not do
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Emin Spahić 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 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Neil Micallef’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zebbug Rangers needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Zebbug Rangers close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 10 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.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fgura United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Thomas Tegwi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emin Spahić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emin Spahić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zebbug Rangers, another week without a signature from Ruslan Maltsev.
The deal with Birkirkara 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.
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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Emin Spahić 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Martin Spiteri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Giovanni Sammut 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.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zebbug Rangers 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 Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Zebbug Rangers asked and Vittoriosa Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Zebbug Rangers have made the call to Zurrieq. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutJoshua Gaku knocks on the manager's door
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zebbug Rangers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Everything agreed with Birkirkara, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Daniel Duvnjak 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valletta have kept their man, and Zebbug Rangers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Emin Spahić 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 easiest signature of my career.” Nathan Sultana and Zebbug Rangers agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Zebbug Rangers have made the call to Birkirkara. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all 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 Zebbug Rangers, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers 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. Fgura United have kept their man, and Zebbug Rangers 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 Emin Spahić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to Hamrun Spartans: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
Thomas Tegwi 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
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.
Zebbug Rangers have made the call to Mosta. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zebbug Rangers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“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; Zebbug Rangers are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Emin Spahić 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 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joseph Willy has his answer from Zebbug Rangers; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zebbug Rangers is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zebbug Rangers can pretend not to have heard.
Zebbug Rangers had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fgura United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$56.0K was the most the club would pay and Vittoriosa Stars were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zebbug Rangers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zebbug Rangers can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Emin Spahić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valletta have kept their man, and Zebbug Rangers go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
A loan enquiry to Hamrun Spartans: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Zebbug Rangers have made the call to Zurrieq. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zebbug Rangers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Zebbug Rangers, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Mosta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vittoriosa Stars have kept their man, and Zebbug Rangers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Duvnjak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Seketso Moremi signs something — a contract at Zebbug Rangers or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zebbug Rangers will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph Willy 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zebbug Rangers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Daniel Duvnjak 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Spahić 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.
He is 18, and nobody at Zebbug Rangers signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
5 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zebbug Rangers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 38 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Emin Spahić 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Duvnjak 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zebbug Rangers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zebbug Rangers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Steve Cachia was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Zebbug Rangers dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zebbug Rangers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zebbug Rangers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniel Duvnjak is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Duvnjak, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Apr 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 1‑3 Steve Cachia left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zebbug Rangers 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.” Zebbug Rangers have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thomas Tegwi and Zebbug Rangers agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zebbug Rangers will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Emin Spahić 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.
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.
Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Zebbug Rangers had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout22 Feb 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.” Steve Cachia, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zebbug Rangers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers 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. Valletta have kept their man, and Zebbug Rangers go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Seketso Moremi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zebbug Rangers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vittoriosa Stars have kept their man, and Zebbug Rangers 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 Daniel Duvnjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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, 6.51, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Santa Lucia will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zebbug Rangers were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Zebbug Rangers close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 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.
Emin Spahić 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.
Zebbug Rangers asked and Zabbar St. Patrick said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 23 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.
Zebbug Rangers had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fgura United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valletta have kept their man, and Zebbug Rangers 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 Daniel Duvnjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Matthew Galea is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Emin Spahić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vittoriosa Stars have kept their man, and Zebbug Rangers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Zebbug Rangers is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
At 23 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.
At 20 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.
Thomas Tegwi 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.
Half the programme played, position 11, 15 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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.
It needed Joseph Willy to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Birzebbuga St. Peter's, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.86, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
7 goals in one match, Shaka Zulu on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Zebbug Rangers and Swieqi United.
Emin Spahić 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Duvnjak 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.
The dugout7 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 3‑4 Steve Cachia left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zebbug Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Zebbug Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Seketso Moremi 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Steve Cachia was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Zebbug Rangers dressing room was either.
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Squad16 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and Zebbug Rangers are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Zebbug Rangers will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He is 20, and nobody at Zebbug Rangers signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Marsa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.