Marked for Raphael Onisiwo
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces23 Jul 2029
Anger at Stripfing 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.
Market23 Jul 2029
“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.
Market23 Jul 2029
Stripfing say no — this time
The offer from Central Coast Mariners for Carey Bloedorn 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Julian Lazaro 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Lienhart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Stripfing asked and O'Higgins 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 targets23 Jul 2029
Rapid Wien 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.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
Lennart Czyborra 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.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Josip Silić
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jun 2029
Stripfing say no — this time
The offer from Werder Bremen for Oliver Sorg 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.
Market11 Jun 2029
“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.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
The deal with Magdeburg 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.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Noah Andreas has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Boulaye Dia in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Lienhart 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.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Stripfing are still strangers to each other
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 May 2029
Anger at Stripfing 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.
Market28 May 2029
“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.
Squad28 May 2029
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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Lienhart 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.
Market28 May 2029
Philipp Sabitzer comes back from a loan that worked
19 appearances and 0 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The dugout28 May 2029
Ole Pohlmann 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.
The dugout28 May 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.
The dugout28 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Josip Silić
“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.
Market28 May 2029
Oliver Sorg linked with a move away
The name of Oliver Sorg keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Stripfing say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 May 2029
“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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Lienhart 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Leandro Suhr 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Too much change too quickly at Stripfing
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout14 May 2029
Gernot Weimann 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.
The dugout14 May 2029
“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 dugout14 May 2029
A promise honoured at Stripfing
Something was said to Ruben Providence and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market14 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Julian Lazaro’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout14 May 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
Uneasy
Squad16 Apr 2029
Mohamed Nasraoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Lienhart 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
No place for Julian Baas in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Stripfing are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad16 Apr 2029
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.
Market16 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Julian Lazaro’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Denizcan Cosgun 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.
Market16 Apr 2029
“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.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“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.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
Stripfing keep producing them
12 graduates from an academy now rated 5 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Raphael Onisiwo: 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.” Stripfing have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Mohamed Nasraoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Sebastian Lienhart 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.
Looking ahead25 Dec 2028
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
Match23 Dec 2028
Stripfing rescue it on 92 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Grazer AK had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match23 Dec 2028
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout25 Dec 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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Ole Pohlmann 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 Ole Pohlmann trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Dec 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Mohamed Nasraoui 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Lienhart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Julian Lazaro
“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.
Match16 Dec 2028
A 1‑1 draw with LASK leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Oliver Sorg 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.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Stefan Lienhart chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Valentino Laimer back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Stripfing has worked with Valentino Laimer before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Nov 2028
Stripfing through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Austria Klagenfurt, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
Stefan Lienhart has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Stripfing can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match1 Nov 2028
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Austria Klagenfurt had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Stripfing did not stop to explain themselves.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
Pressure builds in the Stripfing boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market6 Nov 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 Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Nov 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 Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Arvin Appiah beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Lienhart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stripfing may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Oumar Camara 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Louey Ben Farhat 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Stripfing is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match4 Dec 2027
Stripfing rescue it on 86 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Rapid Wien II had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Match4 Dec 2027
The run is over for Stripfing
4 matches without defeat, and then Rapid Wien II. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
The dugout6 Dec 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Stripfing release $3.2M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.