Lee Tae-Suk 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Austria Wien they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
SquadWords at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
170 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“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 Austria Wien hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Noah Botic 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Austria Wien they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Words at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanel Šaljić 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.
423 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“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 Austria Wien hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Lee Tae-Suk 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Schlager will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Austria Wien the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Words at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanel Šaljić 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.
1‑0 against Besiktas, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Noah Botic was at the centre of the description.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Lee Tae-Suk 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Austria Wien they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Words at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Botic 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 complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
0‑3 against Red Bull Salzburg, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Austria Wien heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Austria Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Austria Wien they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Sanel Šaljić 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.
Nobody at Austria 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.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Austria Wien lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Austria Wien, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Austria Wien they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Austria Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Noah Botic 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.
8.10. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Austria Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Noah Botic 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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Words at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanel Šaljić 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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Austria Wien heard it as anything else.
The name of Konstantin Aleksa has come up in conversations Austria Wien were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Lee Tae-Suk 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Austria Wien they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Words at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Botic 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.
Lee Tae-Suk 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Schlager will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Austria Wien the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Words at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanel Šaljić 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Manprit Sarkaria has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Austria Wien have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The phone has started ringing about Michael Hinteregger again, and this time the name on the line is Grodig. Austria Wien are listening politely and promising nothing.
Lee Tae-Suk 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Austria Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadWords at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Position 2, 42 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Austria Wien have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Noah Botic 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Lee Tae-Suk 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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Austria Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Austria Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Sanel Šaljić 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Austria Wien have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lee Tae-Suk 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Austria Wien will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Noah Botic 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.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Words at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanel Šaljić 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The phone has started ringing about Joris Boguo again, and this time the name on the line is SV Ried. Austria Wien are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thomas Sabitzer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Austria Wien the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Noah Botic 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marcel Lienhart is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad17 Jul 2034
Words at Austria Wien training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanel Šaljić 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Austria Wien is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Austria Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Mattersburg for Patrick Schlager 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.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Sanel Šaljić 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.
Nobody at Austria 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Austria Wien will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Austria Wien this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A conversation is coming this week. Austria Wien will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad26 Jun 2034
Sanel Šaljić 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.
The name of Patrick Schlager has come up in conversations Austria Wien were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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.
The terraces26 Jun 2034
Supporters make their feelings known about Salko Hamzić
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Austria Wien would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.