The Naxxar Lions Post
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rosiel
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naxxar Lions lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market10 May 2027
Théo Kruger asks to leave Naxxar Lions
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Naxxar Lions
Sekala Guehi 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.
Market10 May 2027
One of our own: Clive Attard joins the Naxxar Lions first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Clive Attard is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 May 2027
Simon Buttigieg steps up from the Naxxar Lions academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simon Buttigieg 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.
Market10 May 2027
One of our own: Jeremy Attard joins the Naxxar Lions first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jeremy Attard is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 May 2027
Vitinho 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Neil Pace Cocks out for 28 days
The medical room confirms 28 days on the sidelines for Neil Pace Cocks, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Mark Fenech
“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.
In brief
- The dugout Matthew Debattista has become a man the manager trusts
- The dugout Joseph Kakara knocks on the manager's door
- The dugout The manager plants his flag on Yeangel Montero