Marked for David Junuzovic
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Derby County this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Curbelo, and the manager let it.
Market29 Jul 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sondre Langås’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Jun 2030
“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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Derry Murkin 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Corey Blackett-Taylor, and the manager let it.
Market3 Jun 2030
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market3 Jun 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sondre Langås’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Feb 2030
Petter Nosa Dahl 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 Feb 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elias Scherf, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Somebody is after Michaël Frey’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Michaël Frey suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Rapid Wien have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Paco Alcácer 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.
Market11 Feb 2030
No fee and no drama: Bradley Madjo has signed at Rapid Wien, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
Market11 Feb 2030
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. David Junuzovic leaves Rapid Wien the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rapid Wien can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Jan 2030
113 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jan 2030
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
“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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
A season on the outside for Nirash Perera
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Rapid Wien has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad14 Jan 2030
A new face in his position, and Bendegúz Bolla suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Rapid Wien have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market14 Jan 2030
Rapid Wien have let the market know Justin Möbius can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jan 2030
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Rapid Wien will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market7 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rapid Wien can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rapid Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Jan 2030
Nikos Melissas is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rapid Wien has been clear about where Nikos Melissas stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market7 Jan 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rapid Wien know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad7 Jan 2030
The manager makes an example of David Junuzovic
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Dec 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Market31 Dec 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rapid Wien they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Dec 2029
“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 Rapid Wien know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Dec 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Rapid Wien hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match28 Nov 2029
The wait goes on for Rapid Wien
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Market3 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rapid Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Dec 2029
The manager makes an example of Niklas Hedl
“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.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Marked 8.46 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad3 Dec 2029
The award goes to Ange Ahoussou, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Niklas Hedl lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match28 Nov 2029
It needed Michaël Frey to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Dynamo Kyiv, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 34 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match3 Nov 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Rapid Wien did not have in the autumn.
Market5 Nov 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rapid Wien can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Marcos Enrique: 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.” Rapid Wien have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Nov 2029
Dominik Sabitzer wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Rapid Wien hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Market5 Nov 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rapid Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Marked 9.22 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
A defender's afternoon for Roméo Amané
Defensive actions: 37. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match27 Oct 2029
Still nobody has beaten Rapid Wien
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad29 Oct 2029
David Junuzovic: 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.” Rapid Wien have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad29 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rapid Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Rapid Wien are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Shots: 12, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Oct 2029
A one-man rearguard from Niklas Hedl
There were 11 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match6 Oct 2029
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Market8 Oct 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Junuzovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rapid Wien the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.58, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Marked 9.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match6 Oct 2029
A 3‑1 win over Mattersburg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match3 Oct 2029
A 2‑1 win over Benfica, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Sep 2029
“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 Rapid Wien, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for Rapid Wien
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Marked 9.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Niklas Hedl gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Rapid Wien pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Match22 Sep 2029
It needed Tobia Mogentale to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Austria Wien, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Sep 2029
Furkan Demir wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Rapid Wien hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match8 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Rapid Wien's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rapid Wien has to find a result from somewhere.
Market10 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rapid Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.92, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.90, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Marked 8.65 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market13 Aug 2029
The offer from Wolfsberger AC for İbrahim Yılmaz was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match11 Aug 2029
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rapid Wien have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Marked 9.39 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match11 Aug 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Petter Nosa Dahl’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rapid Wien.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
The one thing Michaël Frey could not do
Shots: 12, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market13 Aug 2029
SV Ried are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Rapid Wien will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rapid Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market23 Jul 2029
The offer from SV Ried for David Junuzovic was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad23 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tobias Gulliksen commits to Rapid Wien for another 5 years.
Squad23 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rapid Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market23 Jul 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rapid Wien know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad23 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Junuzovic, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rapid Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rapid Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Rapid Wien are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market25 Jun 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Rapid Wien will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market25 Jun 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Marcos Enrique may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market25 Jun 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rapid Wien know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Furkan Demir commits to Rapid Wien for another 5 years.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Market18 Jun 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marcos Enrique has his answer from Rapid Wien; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcos Enrique, and the manager let it.
Market18 Jun 2029
SV Ried are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Rapid Wien will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jun 2029
Al Ahly come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rapid Wien did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Jun 2029
“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.
Market11 Jun 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Rapid Wien heard it as anything else.
Market11 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rapid Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rapid Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 May 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Junuzovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rapid Wien the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 May 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Squad14 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Amīn-Elias Gröller commits to Rapid Wien for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 May 2029
Kirill Gotsuk has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rapid Wien they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market7 May 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Rapid Wien heard it as anything else.
Squad7 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rapid Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rapid Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Marcos Enrique knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcos Enrique trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Mar 2029
Jakob Schöller: 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.” Rapid Wien have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Mar 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rapid Wien they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Feb 2029
Louis Schaub 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 Rapid Wien can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Petter Nosa Dahl commits to Rapid Wien for another 5 years.
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rapid Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rapid Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Louis Schaub
“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 Feb 2029
Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rapid Wien can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market5 Feb 2029
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Grodig moved on, İbrahim Yılmaz reports back to Rapid Wien, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Petter Nosa Dahl 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market5 Feb 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Rapid Wien will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.