Marked for Noah Gunsch
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Oct 2035
Noory Elazouzi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Petržalka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Attila Németh 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
Andrej Ilić 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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2035
Wages eat 200% of everything Petržalka earn
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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
“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 Petržalka know it.
Squad15 Oct 2035
A row about effort at Petržalka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milas Eklund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
Adrián Čelko 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 Petržalka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market15 Oct 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Petržalka, another week without a signature from Robert Mazuch.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
A promise honoured for Noah Gunsch
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Petržalka told Noah Gunsch something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 May 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Petržalka
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad21 May 2035
33 days out for Jonas Linnes after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Petržalka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 May 2035
Oliver Luterán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2035
Words at Petržalka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Folprecht 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.
Boardroom21 May 2035
Wages swallow 105% of the Petržalka income
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.
The dugout21 May 2035
Andrej Duda knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrej Duda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 May 2035
The manager makes an example of Milas Eklund
“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.
Market21 May 2035
Andrej Duda linked with a move away
The name of Andrej Duda keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Petržalka say nothing, which says plenty.
Market21 May 2035
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Petržalka money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 May 2035
40 days out for Jonas Linnes after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Petržalka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match14 May 2035
56 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad14 May 2035
Words exchanged at Petržalka
Oliver Luterán 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.
Squad14 May 2035
“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; Petržalka are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad14 May 2035
Words at Petržalka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Folprecht 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.
Boardroom14 May 2035
Petržalka cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout14 May 2035
The manager makes an example of Robert Mazuch
“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.
Market14 May 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Petržalka, another week without a signature from Andrej Duda.
Market14 May 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Michal Folprecht’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2035
A fracture rules Jonas Linnes out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petržalka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Juraj Teplan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Words at Petržalka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Folprecht 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 dugout30 Apr 2035
The manager makes an example of Karel Rožánek
“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 dugout30 Apr 2035
Liberato Wood knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Liberato Wood trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market30 Apr 2035
Still no signature from Karol Nemec
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Petržalka could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Apr 2035
A fracture rules Jonas Linnes out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petržalka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom23 Apr 2035
Pressure builds in the Petržalka boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Oliver Luterán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Michal Folprecht 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.
Boardroom23 Apr 2035
Wages swallow 123% of the Petržalka income
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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
“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; Petržalka are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
Karel Rožánek asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noah Gunsch, and the manager let it.
Market23 Apr 2035
Andrej Duda linked with a move away
The name of Andrej Duda keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Petržalka say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Jonas Linnes breaks a bone — 82 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 Petržalka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
$498.8K from the owner keeps Petržalka afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Michal Folprecht 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 dugout2 Apr 2035
Matouš Babka without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Matouš Babka was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
Oliver Luterán asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market2 Apr 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
Squad1 Jan 2035
55 days out for Solal Moraga after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Petržalka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout1 Jan 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.
Boardroom1 Jan 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at Petržalka
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Petržalka is running low.
Market1 Jan 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.
Match30 Dec 2034
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Petržalka did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Words exchanged at Petržalka
Oliver Luterán 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.
Boardroom1 Jan 2035
Wages swallow 140% of the Petržalka income
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.
The dugout1 Jan 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.
Market1 Jan 2035
Paweł Doniec is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Petržalka has been clear about where Paweł Doniec stands, which is more than many ever get.