Marked for Lukas Provod
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jun 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Birzebbuga St. Peter's waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Birkirkara is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market11 Jun 2035
Sean Somade hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Birkirkara can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jun 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Birkirkara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Jun 2035
JP Iseppe 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 Jun 2035
Words at Birkirkara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sean Somade 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.
Market11 Jun 2035
“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.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2035
Hamrun Spartans 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 dugout11 Jun 2035
Jere Vrcić gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jere Vrcić is on it.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Wesley Malen has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Birkirkara will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Mar 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Birkirkara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Mar 2035
JP Iseppe 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 Mar 2035
A row about effort at Birkirkara
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrew Mitchell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch19 Mar 2035
25 appearances away from home and 12 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
When it matters, Jere Vrcić plays
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 dugout19 Mar 2035
Matt Bagot 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.
Market19 Mar 2035
Jere Vrcić linked with a move away
The name of Jere Vrcić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Birkirkara say nothing, which says plenty.
Market19 Mar 2035
“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.
Match19 Mar 2035
Birkirkara have something to play for
Position 6 on 34 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Mar 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Henry Cunningham will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Birkirkara the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Mar 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jefferson Vinicius and Birkirkara agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Mar 2035
JP Iseppe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Mar 2035
A row about effort at Birkirkara
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Billy Gough was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Thuto Sesipi named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Thuto Sesipi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
Jędrzej Grobelny has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Birkirkara 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.
Market5 Mar 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Birkirkara, another week without a signature from Billy Gough.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
Charlie Whalley 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 dugout5 Mar 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Feb 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Deniro Prempeh-Murray will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Birkirkara the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Feb 2035
JP Iseppe 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 Birkirkara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Billy Gough 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.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jefferson Vinicius is on it.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Birkirkara, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Feb 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matt Bagot’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
The manager makes Lukas Provod a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Birkirkara. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Loan watch26 Feb 2035
22 starts and a season average of 6.71. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Loan watch26 Feb 2035
22 starts now, an average of 6.85, and the team sheet at Zurrieq has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Feb 2035
Timothy Fenech damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Market19 Feb 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Birkirkara is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout19 Feb 2035
Wesley Malen: 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.” Birkirkara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Feb 2035
JP Iseppe 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 Feb 2035
Words at Birkirkara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrew Mitchell 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 dugout19 Feb 2035
“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.
Market19 Feb 2035
“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.
Loan watch19 Feb 2035
21 appearances at Zebbug Rangers and the goals keep coming. Birkirkara are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout19 Feb 2035
When it matters, Jere Vrcić plays
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.