The Rapid Wien Chronicle
Market26 Jul 2027
Nenad Cvetković agrees terms with Mladost Lucani
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rapid Wien people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Graduation day at Rapid Wien
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Rapid Wien
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Achraf Bencharki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market26 Jul 2027
Raphael Lazaro steps up from the Rapid Wien academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Raphael Lazaro has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market26 Jul 2027
One of our own: Marko Dragovic joins the Rapid Wien first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marko Dragovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Jul 2027
Rapid Wien promote Florian Lindner from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Florian Lindner has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Rapid Wien
Toma Bašić 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Tobias Gulliksen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rapid Wien 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Ange Ahoussou 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 Rapid Wien, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
- The dugout The manager makes an example of Mirko Kos
- Squad Toma Bašić needs a bigger stage
- The dugout The manager makes Marlon Mustapha a promise