Marked for Ignacio Barrios
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Nov 2035
21 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market5 Nov 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match3 Nov 2035
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad5 Nov 2035
6 saves: Tom Watson was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings5 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Revin Domi 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 Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Nov 2035
James Mina 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.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Aaron Ferguson is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Sliema Wanderers will try not to make too much of it.
Market5 Nov 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Oct 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aaron Ferguson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Maciel, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Fatjon Bunjaku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adame Ouali and Sliema Wanderers agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom15 Oct 2035
Nobody arrives at Sliema Wanderers until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Sliema Wanderers this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Souleymane Coulibaly trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Oct 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Oct 2035
“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 ratings8 Oct 2035
Marked 8.18 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market8 Oct 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ignacio Barrios will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match6 Oct 2035
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Sliema Wanderers did not have in the autumn.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Revin Domi 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 Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Words at Sliema Wanderers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sifiso Mazibuko 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 terraces8 Oct 2035
He is 19 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 dugout8 Oct 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tom Watson, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Oct 2035
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Match26 Sep 2035
1‑1 against Fgura United, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Tobias Berger decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Marked 7.93 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Up for the corner, and Ignacio Barrios delivers — 7.72
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ignacio Barrios scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market1 Oct 2035
Daniel Bradley has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.98, and 2 involvements.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Revin Domi 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Sep 2035
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sliema Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom17 Sep 2035
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Market17 Sep 2035
Only the photograph left for Revin Domi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Revin Domi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Matías Maciel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Sep 2035
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Aaron Ferguson 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.
Match15 Sep 2035
A 1‑0 win over Melita, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad17 Sep 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
The afternoon belonged to Damari Daley
A mark of 7.73, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Words at Sliema Wanderers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Alvarez 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Market
The clock does Ignacio Barrios’s negotiating for him
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The dugout
No place in the plan for Luis Alvarez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Sep 2035
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Market10 Sep 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Souleymane Coulibaly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Naxxar Lions have kept their man, and Sliema Wanderers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Words at Sliema Wanderers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bradley Furman 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.
Market10 Sep 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
Nobody arrives at Sliema Wanderers until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Sliema Wanderers this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Squad10 Sep 2035
The formation has left Fatjon Bunjaku behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sliema Wanderers will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Aug 2035
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Aug 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sliema Wanderers people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market13 Aug 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ignacio Barrios will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market13 Aug 2035
“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.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Everything agreed with Floriana, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad13 Aug 2035
A muscle injury and 16 days out for James Mina
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Sliema Wanderers will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
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.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Oliver Lynch 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 Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market13 Aug 2035
No place for Oliver Lynch in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oliver Lynch has his answer from Sliema Wanderers; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Aug 2035
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Market6 Aug 2035
Only the photograph left for Oliver Lynch
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Lynch will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market6 Aug 2035
“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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2035
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ignacio Barrios has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad6 Aug 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matthew Lay and Sliema Wanderers agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Sliema Wanderers 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.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aaron Ferguson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Oliver Lynch 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.
Market6 Aug 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Jul 2035
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
Boardroom23 Jul 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sliema Wanderers
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market23 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zebbug Rangers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market23 Jul 2035
Matías Maciel hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Jul 2035
Revin Domi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Jul 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad23 Jul 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
The manager makes an example of Tadi Bare
“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.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Ignacio Barrios 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Jul 2035
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market2 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fgura United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market2 Jul 2035
“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.
Market2 Jul 2035
James Davies has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout2 Jul 2035
This is not rotation. Luis Alvarez has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2035
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.
Squad2 Jul 2035
Matías Maciel 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.
Squad2 Jul 2035
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad2 Jul 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jun 2035
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market18 Jun 2035
“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.
Market18 Jun 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market18 Jun 2035
Sam Olsson has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
The paperwork begins on Owen Tabone
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sliema Wanderers have done the hard part with Birkirkara, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Words at Sliema Wanderers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Ferguson 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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Oliver Lynch 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 Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout18 Jun 2035
Oliver Lynch has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout18 Jun 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jun 2035
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Jun 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Birzebbuga St. Peter's waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market11 Jun 2035
Luis Alvarez hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sliema Wanderers have done the hard part with Floriana, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Oliver Lynch 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.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Ignacio Barrios 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 dugout11 Jun 2035
“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 dugout11 Jun 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Tadi Bare's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market11 Jun 2035
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Sliema Wanderers will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Apr 2035
Matteo Gauci breaks a bone — 42 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Apr 2035
Only the photograph left for Oliver Lynch
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Lynch will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market16 Apr 2035
“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.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Stephen Borg 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 Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Fabinho is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
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.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
The manager makes an example of Gustavo
“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.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sifiso Mazibuko is on it.
Boardroom16 Apr 2035
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Apr 2035
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sliema Wanderers
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market2 Apr 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Apr 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tom Watson commits to Sliema Wanderers for another 3 years.
Squad2 Apr 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Words at Sliema Wanderers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Barrios 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.
Market2 Apr 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Luis Alvarez is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Luis Alvarez 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.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Revin Domi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Mar 2035
Oliver Lynch has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Stephen Borg 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 Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words at Sliema Wanderers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tadi Bare 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 dugout19 Mar 2035
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.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
Sifiso Mazibuko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Boardroom19 Mar 2035
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
Market19 Mar 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
Tom Watson knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
The manager makes an example of Daniel Bradley
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Mar 2035
Every point is an argument now for Sliema Wanderers
Position 12 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market12 Mar 2035
Only the photograph left for Stephen Borg
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stephen Borg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Stephen Borg and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Ignacio Barrios 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 dugout12 Mar 2035
The manager makes an example of Percy Mokoena
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kurt Gatt and Sliema Wanderers agree another 3 years.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
Oliver Lynch knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
Josh McCallum has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Nov 2034
Position 12, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Danil Batyrshin 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.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aaron Ferguson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
The manager makes an example of Stephen Borg
“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.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Mihail Cioban pulls a muscle — 19 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 19 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Boardroom20 Nov 2034
Nobody arrives at Sliema Wanderers until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Sliema Wanderers this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
Oliver Lynch gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Oliver Lynch is on it.
Squad20 Nov 2034
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.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Bradley Tau's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.