43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SV Ried can pretend not to have heard.
Fabian Rossdorfer 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusuf Maart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around SV Ried are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Up for the corner, and Felipe Gómez delivers — 7.78
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Felipe Gómez scored, was marked 7.78, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
SV Ried asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Darwin Balanta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1 for Jere Riissanen, marked 7.90, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Yusuf Maart 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 SV Ried, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Red Bull Salzburg is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusuf Maart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
SV Ried asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
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.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
10 academy players handed senior numbers at SV Ried
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusuf Maart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Conrad Scholl has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The words a physio says slowly. 123 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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
the manager has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SV Ried can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. SV Ried have done the hard part with Sturm Graz, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusuf Maart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jere Riissanen has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
8 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Furmanov loses the manager who believed in him
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Balanta 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SV Ried can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and SV Ried go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Balanta 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at SV Ried has been clear about where Conrad Scholl stands, which is more than many ever get.
SV Ried have made the call to Sturm Graz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Yusuf Maart was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SV Ried have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Maart 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.
Patrick Lazaro 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.
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 Nikolas Veratschnig is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SV Ried, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SV Ried have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Darwin Balanta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Conrad Scholl 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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Balanta 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.
Yusuf Maart 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.
Andreas Lienhart 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 directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Balanta 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Ried this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at SV Ried 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SV Ried, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Maart 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.
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 Nikolas Veratschnig is on it.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. SV Ried would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Fabian Rossdorfer 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Darwin Balanta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 SV Ried will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Andreas Lienhart has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SV Ried will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Maart 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Florian Baumgartner 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Guido Wimmer 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Peter Trimmel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Valentino Lainer 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SV Ried will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 SV Ried, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kevin Lezcano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SV Ried the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and SV Ried go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Darwin Balanta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to Olympique de Marseille: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 SV Ried, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SV Ried have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Yusuf Maart 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and SV Ried go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
SV Ried have made the call to Red Bull Salzburg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
SV Ried have made the call to Red Bull Salzburg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SV Ried have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 SV Ried, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SV Ried they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andreas Lienhart is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusuf Maart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusuf Maart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
SV Ried asked and Hamburger SV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Andreas Lienhart 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.
“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 SV Ried know it.
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 Radek Ondroušek is on it.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around SV Ried people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gabriele Finocchiaro has just signed for SV Ried, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rapid Wien have kept their man, and SV Ried go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Maart 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Ried this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Yusuf Maart 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.
Chanse Headman 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Jimmy Martens has written the date down.
In brief
SquadPatrick Lazaro is training like a man with a point to make
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Boardroom6 May 2030
the manager has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SV Ried can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad6 May 2030
Yusuf Maart 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.
Andreas Lienhart 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.
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 Radek Ondroušek is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Adam Aït Ali Oulhaj has written the date down.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SV Ried is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oliver Steurer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Adam Aït Ali Oulhaj is on it.
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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Anteo Fetahu’s negotiating for him
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Maart 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.
Andreas Lienhart 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.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee SV Ried could ask drops and the wages David Nieland can ask rise.
In brief
The dugoutJimmy Martens knocks on the manager’s door
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Grodig waiting with a shirt. Nobody at SV Ried is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal that would have taken Anteo Fetahu to Mattersburg has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to SV Ried with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Yusuf Maart 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.
Adam Aït Ali Oulhaj 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.
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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. SV Ried have done the hard part with Athletic Bilbao, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Luka Capan has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Yusuf Maart 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Ried this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Athletic Bilbao have kept their man, and SV Ried go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.