Loris Fontana

Right Back - Gzira United
23 Aug 2029
Thursday
Process

Marked for Loris Fontana

158 Edition

The Gzira United Courier

6 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jakub Nečas signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jakub Nečas and Gzira United agree another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Gzira United

Jakub Nečas 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Loris Fontana at Gzira United

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Loris Fontana is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

In brief

Back issues
148 Edition

The Gzira United Courier

28 May 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Loris Fontana damages knee ligaments — 17 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.

Match

Gzira United sink to position 10

21 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

Jakub Nečas 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 Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

147 Edition

The Gzira United Courier

21 May 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Gzira United spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

Loris Fontana damages knee ligaments — 24 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.

Market

Jake Micallef asks to leave Gzira United

“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.

In brief

146 Edition

The Gzira United Courier

14 May 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Loris Fontana damages knee ligaments — 31 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.

Squad

Luís Riascos 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.

Squad

James Ward stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” James Ward and Gzira United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

145 Edition

The Gzira United Courier

7 May 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Loris Fontana damages knee ligaments — 38 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Malcolm Bugeja has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gzira United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Gzira United

Jakub Nečas 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.

In brief

125 Edition

The Gzira United Courier

18 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Loris Fontana keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gzira United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Gzira United

Jakub Nečas 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.

Squad

Words at Gzira United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luís Riascos 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.

Match

Floriana take the points off Gzira United

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

One of those days for Santiago Martínez

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

No hiding place for Jake Leahy

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jake Leahy, and the manager let it.

In brief

106 Edition

The Gzira United Courier

7 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Real improvement from Loris Fontana at Gzira United

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Loris Fontana is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tempers go at Gzira United

Jakub Nečas 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.

Squad

A late step up for Johan Bonilla

At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

In brief

80 Edition

The Gzira United Courier

7 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Harel Atia asks to leave Gzira United

“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.

Squad

Andrew Borg says Gzira United went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Gzira United

Edoardo Colombo 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.

Squad

Harel Atia wants to go home

“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 Gzira United know it.

Squad

Chrisnovic N'sa gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

A long bet from Gzira United on Loris Fontana

He is 19, and nobody at Gzira United signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

In brief