Marked for Thomas Lainer
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Aug 2028
11 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.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mattersburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Thomas Lainer out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
The deal with SV Ried 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michael Grillitsch is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Guido Weimann and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Igor Przetak arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Igor Przetak has, at Mattersburg, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Match26 Aug 2028
1‑2 to SV Ried, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Aug 2028
Anger at Mattersburg 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
10 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
Beaten 0‑6 by Austria Wien, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market21 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Aug 2028
23 days out for Thomas Lainer after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mattersburg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Paris Elmensdorp is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match19 Aug 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Mattersburg and Austria Wien, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad21 Aug 2028
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2028
9 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Thomas Lainer breaks a bone — 30 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
$52.0K settles it between the clubs for Saliou Sané
SV Ried have accepted the money. What Mattersburg do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad14 Aug 2028
The step up is real for Ryan Ogam
At 23 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Ryan Ogam 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Ibrahim Buhari has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Antosch, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Aug 2028
Chastening afternoon for Mattersburg
A 1‑4 beating by Rapid Wien was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Thomas Lainer breaks a bone — 38 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Aug 2028
8 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Aug 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 Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Aug 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mattersburg have done the hard part with Sturm Graz, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Patrick Knoflach and Mattersburg agree another 2 years.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mario Juranovic has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Mattersburg have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jul 2028
Thomas Lainer breaks a bone — 46 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Jul 2028
7 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market31 Jul 2028
Patrick Touray has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mattersburg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad31 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Guido Weimann and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Mattersburg
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Mattersburg 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Thomas Lainer breaks a bone — 54 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Mattersburg
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
$77.0K settles it between the clubs for Rok Kidrič
Admira Wacker have accepted the money. What Mattersburg do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michael Reindorf is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad24 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets24 Jul 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
Crisis
Squad17 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Thomas Lainer out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 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.
Market17 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mattersburg people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad17 Jul 2028
At 23 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Xaver Wober 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 targets17 Jul 2028
Mattersburg asked and Austria Wien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
A loan move for Heinz Kalajdzic is in the works
Mattersburg have made the call to Sturm Graz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Marko Fuchs 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 Mattersburg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jul 2028
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mattersburg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Thomas Lainer breaks a bone — 68 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Red Bull Salzburg; Mattersburg go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Antosch and Mattersburg agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Mattersburg asked and Admira Wacker said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Jul 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Christoph Arnautovic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Jul 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Patrick Baumgartner has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Guido Weimann
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mattersburg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match3 Jul 2028
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Thomas Lainer out for 76 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad3 Jul 2028
Ryan Ogam 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
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximilian Lienhart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Jul 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Red Bull Salzburg 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Jun 2028
Supporters organise against the Mattersburg 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Guido Weimann damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Thomas Lainer breaks a bone — 83 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Mattersburg boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 Jun 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 Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
$52.0K settles it between the clubs for Saliou Sané
SV Ried have accepted the money. What Mattersburg do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market26 Jun 2028
Grodig come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mattersburg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Rapid Wien, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jun 2028
Guido Weimann damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Thomas Lainer out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Jun 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 Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Mattersburg have gone to Sturm Graz with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Xaver Wober was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sturm Graz have kept their man, and Mattersburg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Paris Elmensdorp 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 dugout19 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2028
Guido Weimann damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
The unthinkable, invoiced: Valentino Prass sold
Austria Wien arrived with $1.8M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Thomas Lainer out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Valentino Prass has gone, the accounts have $1.8M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mattersburg have done the hard part with Austria Wien, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Ryan Ogam 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Mattersburg asked and SV Ried said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Sven Bauer
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Mattersburg will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jun 2028
Guido Weimann damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Thomas Lainer out for 104 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match5 Jun 2028
Mattersburg are in real trouble now
Position 8, 15 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.
Market5 Jun 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jallal-Dine Yansané has just signed for Mattersburg, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mattersburg have done the hard part with Admira Wacker, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
The offer went to Rapid Wien this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Guido Weimann and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market5 Jun 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Mattersburg will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.