“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 The request is on a desk at Admira Wacker, and it is not being withdrawn.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.51 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Admira Wacker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Admira Wacker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frans Krätzig 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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Admira Wacker can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Admira Wacker heard it as anything else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Michael Lang 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Frans Krätzig has improved at 25, 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Frans Krätzig 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Markus Grillitsch is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Jonas Auer 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.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Admira Wacker, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Marked 4.69. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Admira Wacker can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Admira Wacker hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Michael Lang 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Frans Krätzig 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Admira Wacker can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Rapid Wien for Markus Grillitsch was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Admira Wacker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Admira Wacker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frans Krätzig 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Julian Sabitzer and Admira Wacker agree another 4 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 Admira Wacker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Frans Krätzig 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The chase for Frans Krätzig ended with $6.3M changing hands and Red Bull Salzburg out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Admira Wacker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Philipp Jung 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valentino Schlager and Admira Wacker agree another 4 years.
In brief
The terracesAdmira Wacker spend $6.3M on the signing the town wanted
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Admira Wacker have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Admira Wacker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Admira Wacker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Martic 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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Rapid Wien kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Admira Wacker will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Admira Wacker have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Admira Wacker can pretend not to have heard.
Jonas Auer 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.
“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 Admira Wacker, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
1 for Julian Sabitzer, marked 7.82, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Admira Wacker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2‑3 to Red Bull Salzburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Admira Wacker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonas Auer 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Raphael Posch will call it something else in private.
“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 Admira Wacker, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Florian Lienhart and Admira Wacker agree another 2 years.
Jonas Auer 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Admira Wacker, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Two goals and a mark of 7.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Admira Wacker can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jonas Auer scored, was marked 7.63, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Admira Wacker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Admira Wacker and Rapid Wien, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Mike-Steven Bähre 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 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.
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.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Admira Wacker lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Grodig for Dejan Fuchs was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Jonas Auer 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Admira Wacker lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Admira Wacker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 15 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.
The phone has started ringing about Dejan Fuchs again, and this time the name on the line is Grodig. Admira Wacker are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Admira Wacker can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
The fee is $810.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Austria Wien drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.