Marked for Tjaš Črešnar
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 May 2028
Kevin Trimmel damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Squad8 May 2028
112 days out for Lukas Deinhofer after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stripfing will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Markus Arnautovic 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximilian Laimer 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 dugout8 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sékou Sylla, and the manager let it.
Market8 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valentino Prass signs something — a contract at Stripfing or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Apr 2028
Maximilian Laimer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vicente Valor commits to Stripfing for another 3 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christoph Junuzovic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Wages eat 106% of everything Stripfing 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Too much change too quickly at Stripfing
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastian Wimmer, and the manager let it.
Market3 Apr 2028
Romeo Vučić linked with a move away
The name of Romeo Vučić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Stripfing say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stripfing. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Moritz Würdinger 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Roan Veenbrink: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stripfing have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Xaver Wimmer 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Freddy Colombo gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Freddy Colombo has just signed for Stripfing, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximilian Laimer 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexander Lazaro and Stripfing agree another 5 years.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Tjaš Črešnar 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.
Market27 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Maximilian Laimer’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexander Lazaro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market27 Mar 2028
Stripfing shop where it costs nothing
Filippo Sgarbi signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Jan 2028
Stripfing make home a hard place to visit
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market10 Jan 2028
“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 targets10 Jan 2028
Stripfing and WSG Tirol have settled on $610.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market10 Jan 2028
The name of Maximilian Laimer has come up in conversations Stripfing were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Maximilian Laimer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Xaver Wimmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom10 Jan 2028
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 Jan 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Xaver Wimmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
Markus Arnautovic 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.
Market24 May 2027
The Xaver Wimmer story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Xaver Wimmer signs something — a contract at Stripfing or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stripfing can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Stripfing did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Xaver Wimmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
David Posch 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
Markus Alaba comes back from a loan that worked
22 appearances and 7 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Romeo Vučić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Ostojić, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Julian Onisiwo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.