Marked for Robert Lefèvre
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 May 2029
The mood at Grodig has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market21 May 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.
The dugout21 May 2029
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Squad21 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 Grodig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Philipp Erhardt, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout21 May 2029
Ognjen Mišić is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Grodig
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Grodig is running low.
Market2 Apr 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 The request is on a desk at Grodig, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Grodig
Benjamin Leneis 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 dugout2 Apr 2029
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Squad2 Apr 2029
Andrej Lazarevic 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“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 Grodig know it.
The dugout2 Apr 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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
$229.4K a year onto the Grodig books
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Ákos Perczel 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 Ákos Perczel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Jan 2029
The mood at Grodig has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market29 Jan 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 Grodig can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
$200.0K settles it between the clubs for Nicolas Wimmer
Wolfsberger AC have accepted the money. What Grodig do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market29 Jan 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Grodig have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
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Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Grodig have done the hard part with Rapid Wien, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad29 Jan 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 Grodig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets29 Jan 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Grodig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Lazarevic 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 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.
Market11 Dec 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dominik Kirnbauer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grodig the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad11 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Grodig
Benjamin Leneis 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Grodig
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Scheibenhofer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Philipp Erhardt
“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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“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; Grodig are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
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.
The dugout11 Dec 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
The terraces9 Oct 2028
Anger at Grodig 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.
Match7 Oct 2028
0‑3 to Austria Wien, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market9 Oct 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 Grodig, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Oct 2028
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.
Squad9 Oct 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 Grodig this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Oct 2028
3 matches without a goal for Grodig
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Grodig training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Scheibenhofer 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.
Looking ahead9 Oct 2028
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Grodig know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
In brief
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Boardroom
Inquest at Grodig
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Home is on Robert Lefèvre's mind