A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tarxien Rainbows have done the hard part with Marsaxlokk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Yilson Mosquera 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.
Tarxien Rainbows offered $7.0K; Swieqi United said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Marko Musulin 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Harry Price and Tarxien Rainbows agree another 3 years.
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 Patrick Schmidt is on it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrick Schmidt signs something — a contract at Tarxien Rainbows or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tarxien Rainbows can pretend not to have heard.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tarxien Rainbows are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theodor Valkanova-Gerasimov 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.
A loan enquiry to Vittoriosa Stars: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 Patrick Schmidt is on it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Wesley and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Marko Musulin 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.
Nobody at Tarxien Rainbows 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrick Schmidt signs something — a contract at Tarxien Rainbows or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“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; Tarxien Rainbows are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Musulin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrick Schmidt signs something — a contract at Tarxien Rainbows or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tarxien Rainbows, 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 Tarxien Rainbows can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theodor Valkanova-Gerasimov 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.
Nobody at Tarxien Rainbows 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrick Schmidt signs something — a contract at Tarxien Rainbows or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
They sit in position 3 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Patrick Schmidt has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tarxien Rainbows has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Musulin 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.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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 Tarxien Rainbows, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Add another name to the list: Mosta have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cláudio Murici. The answer from Tarxien Rainbows has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Gleissinho 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.
Tarxien Rainbows have made the call to Marsaxlokk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Yilson Mosquera 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 had been thinking. Marko Musulin 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.
Something was said to Gleissinho and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Tarxien Rainbows 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Tarxien Rainbows would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrick Schmidt signs something — a contract at Tarxien Rainbows or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zabbar St. Patrick waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tarxien Rainbows is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Yilson Mosquera 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.
This is not rotation. Cláudio Murici has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tarxien Rainbows is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Marko Musulin 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.
Nobody at Tarxien Rainbows 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrick Schmidt signs something — a contract at Tarxien Rainbows or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutAndreas Vella asks for a word with the manager