Marked for Jonathan Meza
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Oct 2028
Vaduz are in real trouble now
Position 9, 11 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.
Market23 Oct 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Vaduz, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Tim Hottiger
“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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
One of those days for Marco Meli
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Lorenzo Ferrari 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
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.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Lennart Stoll 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 Vaduz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Sep 2028
Anger at Vaduz spills outside the ground
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.
Match16 Sep 2028
Nowhere to hide for Vaduz
0‑3 against Yverdon, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match16 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Vaduz's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vaduz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Vaduz
Gianluca Germinario 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Vaduz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Liam Marheineke 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 dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Liam Marheineke
“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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Vaduz are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
Doors closed at Vaduz
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout18 Sep 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Ruben Benito to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Sep 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match2 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Vaduz's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vaduz has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Vaduz close the window on a squad of their own making
28 in and 31 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Match2 Sep 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Meli, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Denis Simani 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. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Vaduz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Liam Marheineke 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vaduz can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 115% of the Vaduz income
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Vaduz
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The dugout
Ruben Benito faces the questions
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jul 2028
Vaduz are in real trouble now
Position 10, 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.
Market3 Jul 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Luis Fernando 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sion have kept their man, and Vaduz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Vaduz
Stephan Seiler and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vaduz can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Wages swallow 98% of the Vaduz 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Young Boys: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 May 2028
Anger at Vaduz spills outside the ground
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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Vaduz
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market29 May 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words exchanged at Vaduz
Leon Schaffran 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Luis Fernando 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 dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Marco Meli
“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 dugout29 May 2028
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.
Market29 May 2028
Mischa Eberhard returns from a loan that gave him nothing
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Market29 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Marcel Monsberger may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 May 2028
“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 Vaduz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Vaduz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahuel Estévez 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.
Squad22 May 2028
A falling-out at Vaduz
Serge Müller 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
Vaduz are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout22 May 2028
Ângelo Campos 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 Ângelo Campos is on it.
The dugout22 May 2028
Serge Müller 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.
Market22 May 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dejan Djokic’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 May 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad22 May 2028
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 Vaduz would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 May 2028
“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 Vaduz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 May 2028
Tempers go at Vaduz
Fabio Fehr 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.
Squad15 May 2028
A row about effort at Vaduz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nahuel Estévez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 May 2028
“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.
Squad15 May 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout15 May 2028
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 Malik Sawadogo is on it.
The dugout15 May 2028
Kemal Ademi 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.
Squad15 May 2028
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 Vaduz would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market15 May 2028
“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
The terraces1 May 2028
Supporters organise against the Vaduz board
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.
Boardroom1 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Vaduz boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 May 2028
Levin Lampert damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Market1 May 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words exchanged at Vaduz
Leon Schaffran 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.
Squad1 May 2028
A row about effort at Vaduz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nahuel Estévez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 May 2028
Fabio Fehr without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Fabio Fehr was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad1 May 2028
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 dugout1 May 2028
Mattia Tirelli 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 Vaduz, and both men came out saying it was fine.