The mood at St. Pauli 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.
Position 18 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. St. Pauli have done the hard part with Borussia Dortmund, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. St. Pauli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
FC Augsburg wanted more than $370.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jackson Irvine 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. St. Pauli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dardan Shabanhaxhaj has, at St. Pauli, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
$370.0K on the table at FC Augsburg. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Martijn Kaars 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.
“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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jackson Irvine 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.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. St. Pauli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Everything agreed with Borussia Dortmund, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Lukas Klostermann 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.
Add another name to the list: Hamburger SV have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ignacio Pereira. The answer from St. Pauli has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Henrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. St. Pauli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at St. Pauli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Ignacio Pereira 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.
The mood at St. Pauli 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.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. St. Pauli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Pauli can pretend not to have heard.
Martijn Kaars 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jackson Irvine 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mathias Pereira Lage trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Abdelrafik Gérard arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.