Marked for Andrey Laptev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout30 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Emmanuel Bio has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Pieta Hotspurs is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Ronaldo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Bio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Tom King 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.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
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 Gabriel Mannino is on it.
Market30 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emmanuel Bio’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market30 Apr 2029
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Pieta Hotspurs money.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nicholas Scicluna has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Emmanuel Bio has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Pieta Hotspurs is pretending otherwise.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Andrey Laptev: 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.” Pieta Hotspurs have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Ronaldo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
$110.6K of the owner's money at Pieta Hotspurs
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Abeiku Essien
“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 dugout2 Apr 2029
Ronaldo without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Ronaldo was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Pieta Hotspurs training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke Bugeja 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.
Market2 Apr 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pieta Hotspurs, another week without a signature from Adrian Portelli.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Mar 2029
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.
Match17 Mar 2029
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pieta Hotspurs can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“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 Pieta Hotspurs know it.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Ronaldo 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Bio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
193% of the income goes out in wages at Pieta Hotspurs
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Match17 Mar 2029
0‑2 to Melita, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout15 May 2028
This is not rotation. Felippe Santana has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Pieta Hotspurs is pretending otherwise.
Squad15 May 2028
Felippe Santana 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Pieta Hotspurs training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Bio 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Wages swallow 140% of the Pieta Hotspurs 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 dugout15 May 2028
When it matters, Lecão plays
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.
Squad15 May 2028
A season on the outside for Lecão
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pieta Hotspurs has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market15 May 2028
The Emmanuel Bio story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emmanuel Bio signs something — a contract at Pieta Hotspurs or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market15 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Emmanuel Bio may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market15 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout1 May 2028
This is not rotation. Victor Hugo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Pieta Hotspurs is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 May 2028
“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 Pieta Hotspurs know it.
Squad1 May 2028
Emmanuel Bio 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.
Boardroom1 May 2028
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market1 May 2028
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Market1 May 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad1 May 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Abeiku Essien 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.
Squad1 May 2028
The captaincy has been taken off Emmanuel Bio. Pieta Hotspurs will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout1 May 2028
Emmanuel Bio 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.