94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sumgayit lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Glenn Knorr 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
Easah Suliman 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.
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sumgayit lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Matheus Barboza 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Glenn Knorr was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wolfsberger AC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rene Renner and Wolfsberger AC agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Thierno Ballo 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.
12 appearances at Greuther Fürth and the goals have stopped going in. Wolfsberger AC lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Wolfsberger AC would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sumgayit lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Matheus Barboza 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 Easah Suliman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Glenn Knorr's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sumgayit lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Glenn Knorr 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.
“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; Sumgayit are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sumgayit, and both men came out saying it was fine.
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sumgayit lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Glenn Knorr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sumgayit can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Mauro Ajuruteua 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 dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Guilherme Borges'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.
This is not rotation. Donis Avdijaj has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Wolfsberger AC is pretending otherwise.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Thierno Ballo 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Wolfsberger AC, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
4 shut-outs in 8 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Lukas Gütlbauer has been having a lot of them.
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Wolfsberger AC. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sumgayit can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Glenn Knorr 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vinícius Souza and Sumgayit agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Easah Suliman 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.
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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Mehdi Cənnətov was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Position 10 and 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Glenn Knorr 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ramil Şeydayev's mistake
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sumgayit lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Matheus Barboza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Glenn Knorr 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
Squad12 new faces, and Sumgayit are still learning each other
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Cédric Badolo's mistake
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Easah Suliman 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 Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sumgayit will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
Position 1 on 55 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Raffael Behounek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Thierno Ballo 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sumgayit can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The terraces6 Mar 2028
The mood at Sumgayit has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sumgayit can pretend not to have heard.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Easah Suliman commits to Sumgayit for another 3 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Glenn Knorr 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.
Vinícius Souza 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Camilo 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.
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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Glenn Knorr's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything agreed with Wolfsberger AC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alen Bukovec has agreed terms with Sabah for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Wolfsberger AC people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Greuther Fürth had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wolfsberger AC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Giacomo Vrioni 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Wolfsberger AC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thierno Ballo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Wolfsberger AC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Dragan Marčeta.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Luís Fernando 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehdi Cənnətov, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Jan 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 Kamran Bayramov to a room that had heard them before.
Wolfsberger AC have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Wolfsberger AC have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Julian Eitschberger 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Altach will make the call about Giacomo Vrioni this week. Wolfsberger AC have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Thierno Ballo 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A conversation is coming this week. Wolfsberger AC will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Thierno Ballo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SV Ried have kept their man, and Wolfsberger AC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Fortuna Düsseldorf for Giacomo Vrioni was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“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 Wolfsberger AC, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Wolfsberger AC have had the benefit of it.
20 goals and a season average of 7.32 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Thierno Ballo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sturm Graz have kept their man, and Wolfsberger AC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Glenn Knorr again, and this time the name on the line is Sabail. Wolfsberger AC are listening politely and promising nothing.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Wolfsberger AC will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Minute 87, against Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Giacomo Vrioni 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 Thierno Ballo 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 Wolfsberger AC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Wolfsberger AC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thierno Ballo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Benkič 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.
A 1‑0 win over Admira Wacker, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Wolfsberger AC can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Giacomo Vrioni 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Glenn Knorr is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Wolfsberger AC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thierno Ballo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and Wolfsberger AC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Wolfsberger AC is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Erik Kojzek
There were 89 minutes on the clock and St. Pölten had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Wolfsberger AC did not stop to explain themselves.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giacomo Vrioni provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $110.0K — a club that wants Fabian Rossdorfer enough to be asked twice.
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.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wolfsberger AC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Giacomo Vrioni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Wolfsberger AC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thierno Ballo 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.
Wolfsberger AC asked and Sparta Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Wolfsberger AC know it.
The mood at Wolfsberger AC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Giacomo Vrioni 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.
Wolfsberger AC offered $280.0K; Rapid Wien 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Angelo Gattermayer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wolfsberger AC can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Wimmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Wolfsberger AC can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nicolas Wimmer signs something — a contract at Wolfsberger AC 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 Wolfsberger AC, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marco Sulzner has written the date down.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Donis Avdijaj 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Wolfsberger AC people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Blau-Weiß Linz for Giacomo Vrioni was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Wolfsberger AC had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olympiacos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Donis Avdijaj 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Wolfsberger AC are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wolfsberger AC can pretend not to have heard.
$1.3M was the most the club would pay and First Vienna 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.
The deal with Austria Lustenau 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.
Giacomo Vrioni 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 Nicolas Wimmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen have kept their man, and Wolfsberger AC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Ryan Ogam again, and this time the name on the line is Honved. Wolfsberger AC are listening politely and promising nothing.
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Wolfsberger AC have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
Quenten Attigah 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.
Everybody at VVV-Venlo saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Justin Ogenia 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against FC Eindhoven in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.97 for the rest of it.
1 for Gabin Blancquart, marked 7.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Quenten Attigah 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.
At 17 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between VVV-Venlo and Jong PSV, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Naïm Matoug 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Dean Zandbergen at his very best