Marked for Thomas Grillitsch
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“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 Nov 2027
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lukas Mühl 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
Martin Grillitsch has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Stripfing 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.
Market15 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“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 Stripfing will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ibrahim Ouattara’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Stripfing needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market15 Nov 2027
The Marcel Posch story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcel Posch signs something — a contract at Stripfing or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
13 appearances at OH Leuven and the goals keep coming. Stripfing are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Sep 2027
Stripfing win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. St. Pölten will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stripfing may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market20 Sep 2027
“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 Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Match18 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thomas Grillitsch. 2‑1 against St. Pölten, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
“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 Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stripfing have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcel Posch commits to Stripfing for another 3 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Martin Grillitsch 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 targets9 Aug 2027
Stripfing asked and Austria Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Young Violets left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentino Alaba 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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
Upbeat
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Martin Grillitsch 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Grillitsch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch17 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Patrick Laimer’s exile
12 goals in 34 games at Concordia Chiajna — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Stripfing updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout17 May 2027
Nobody at Stripfing 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
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.
Market17 May 2027
The name of Kevin Arnautovic keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Stripfing say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout17 May 2027
Peter Sabitzer 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 Stripfing, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market17 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Peter Sabitzer may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad17 May 2027
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2027
Martin Grillitsch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Grillitsch 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Stripfing are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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.
Loan watch10 May 2027
27 appearances at Westerlo and the goals keep coming. Stripfing are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout10 May 2027
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.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Stefan Kalajdzic’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes Dário a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stripfing. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
Martin Grillitsch 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Grillitsch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Arnautovic, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marlon Morgenstern trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juri Kirchmayr signs something — a contract at Stripfing or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad26 Apr 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Apr 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stripfing can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Martin Grillitsch 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 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Grillitsch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Patrick Laimer’s exile
12 goals in 31 games at Concordia Chiajna — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Stripfing updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Stripfing can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad19 Apr 2027
11 new faces, and Stripfing are still learning each other
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentino Alaba, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stripfing, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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
Upbeat
Match5 Apr 2027
Stripfing are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 55 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Martin Grillitsch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Grillitsch 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valentino Alaba and Stripfing agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
João Forelle 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stripfing have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
At 18 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Martin Grillitsch 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 Mar 2027
Thomas Grillitsch 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
At 21, Travis de Jong is already the best thing here
An average of 7.09 in a first team he is several years too young for. Stripfing have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Grillitsch 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Stripfing can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
27 appearances at Westerlo and the goals keep coming. Stripfing are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ralf Seuntjens, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Juri Kirchmayr knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juri Kirchmayr trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Mar 2027
“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
Triumph
Match6 Mar 2027
FC Liefering will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Stripfing were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match8 Mar 2027
Stripfing are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 55 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match6 Mar 2027
Whatever happens, Stripfing do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Martin Grillitsch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
The crowd has taken to Sota Kitano
At 22 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Thomas Grillitsch 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad8 Mar 2027
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Stripfing who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match20 Feb 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against FAC Wien, and it could have been more.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
No sign of nerves from Travis de Jong at 21 — 9.45
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Travis de Jong did not need any: 9.45, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The match ball belongs to Travis de Jong, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad22 Feb 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match20 Feb 2027
Nobody wants to play Stripfing right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Juri Kirchmayr and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Looking ahead22 Feb 2027
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Thomas Grillitsch 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.23, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A brace, and Travis de Jong takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Travis de Jong provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match13 Feb 2027
Stripfing cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Stripfing know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
Three points for Stripfing, 2‑0 the final word against Amstetten in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Grillitsch 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valentino Wimmer and Stripfing agree another 3 years.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
24 appearances away from home and 10 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Andreas Hinteregger could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
Juri Kirchmayr and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
At 21 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Rapid Wien II made Stripfing work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match30 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Stripfing
Position 2, 27 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luigi Valentini and Stripfing agree another 3 years.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andreas Hinteregger on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Xaver Posch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stripfing lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Luigi Valentini is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Juri Kirchmayr 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Admira Wacker left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Andreas Hinteregger to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Sandali Condé's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
$2.7M from Sturm Graz for Dominik Lienhart. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Market10 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Stripfing sell a favourite for $2.7M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Dominik Lienhart was one of the reasons people came, and $2.7M does not replace that by itself.
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Stripfing did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Juri Kirchmayr again, and this time the name on the line is Metalist. Stripfing are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Greuther Fürth, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Grillitsch commits to Stripfing for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Juri Kirchmayr from Grazer AK for $770.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.