Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ayom Majok will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zabbar St. Patrick the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Strahinja Jovančić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zabbar St. Patrick have made the call to Mosta. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Something was said to Timi Sikosek and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Floriana keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
Ivan Uzunov 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.
Nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mosta is saying, and nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarki Arnaldarson 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.
Zabbar St. Patrick have made the call to Mosta. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ivan Uzunov 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zabbar St. Patrick have done the hard part with Mosta, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Kurt Shaw 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 Strahinja Jovančić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Zabbar St. Patrick will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 Ivan Uzunov has written the date down.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Zean Leonardi on the training pitch
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mtarfa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Kurt Shaw 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Floriana have kept their man, and Zabbar St. Patrick go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bjarki Arnaldarson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zabbar St. Patrick have made the call to Gzira United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zabbar St. Patrick, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
At 20 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Strahinja Jovančić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zean Leonardi 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.
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 Abubakar Nasir is on it.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sean Gatt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zabbar St. Patrick the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bjarki Arnaldarson 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 Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zabbar St. Patrick they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Zean Leonardi 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 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 easiest signature of my career.” Hayk Stepanyan and Zabbar St. Patrick agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zabbar St. Patrick. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
Tiago 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zabbar St. Patrick lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Zabbar St. Patrick is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Strahinja Jovančić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 7.67 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mario Bugeja kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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 Zabbar St. Patrick, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zabbar St. Patrick they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
Position 10 and 24 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zabbar St. Patrick people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Tarxien Rainbows, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
Zabbar St. Patrick asked and Zurrieq said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Strahinja Jovančić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zabbar St. Patrick, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zabbar St. Patrick can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gzira United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The phone has started ringing about Ayom Majok again, and this time the name on the line is Melita. Zabbar St. Patrick are listening politely and promising nothing.
Bruno Figueiredo 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.
Zabbar St. Patrick offered $21.0K; Valletta 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.
Zabbar St. Patrick asked and Tarxien Rainbows said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miro Soldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zabbar St. Patrick have made the call to Floriana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 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.
Position 10 and 24 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zabbar St. Patrick have done the hard part with Tarxien Rainbows, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Add another name to the list: Santa Lucia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sean Gatt. The answer from Zabbar St. Patrick has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zabbar St. Patrick know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gzira United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zabbar St. Patrick is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Bruno Figueiredo 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.
$21.0K was the most the club would pay and Valletta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hibernians have kept their man, and Zabbar St. Patrick go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
“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.
Bruno Figueiredo 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 had been thinking. Bjarki Arnaldarson 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luís Mota signs something — a contract at Zabbar St. Patrick or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zabbar St. Patrick. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bjarki Arnaldarson signs something — a contract at Zabbar St. Patrick or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karlo Bručić and Zabbar St. Patrick agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Zabbar St. Patrick know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarki Arnaldarson 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.
“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 Zabbar St. Patrick, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bruno Figueiredo 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 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luís Mota signs something — a contract at Zabbar St. Patrick 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 Zabbar St. Patrick, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kaiden Fenech’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zabbar St. Patrick needing him to play as if none of it matters.
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zabbar St. Patrick lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zabbar St. Patrick, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zabbar St. Patrick can pretend not to have heard.
Bruno Figueiredo 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 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.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Pedro Cejas was the best thing in any of them.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kean Scicluna’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zabbar St. Patrick needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Bjarki Arnaldarson has written the date down.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tiago has just signed for Zabbar St. Patrick, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mario Bugeja kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.