Marked for Mark Bennett
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Aug 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mtarfa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market13 Aug 2035
“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 The request is on a desk at Mtarfa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
No thanks: Joseph Grech rejects the move
Mtarfa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Santa Lucia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Mtarfa asked and Naxxar Lions said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad13 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mtarfa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2035
A row about effort at Mtarfa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mark Bennett was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
A loan move for Ryan Kelly is in the works
Mtarfa have made the call to Floriana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
A loan move for Glenn Xerri is in the works
Mtarfa have made the call to Birkirkara. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout13 Aug 2035
Christy Pym gets picked when it counts
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 Christy Pym is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom30 Jul 2035
Pressure builds in the Mtarfa boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market30 Jul 2035
“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 The request is on a desk at Mtarfa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Everything agreed with Floriana, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout30 Jul 2035
This is not rotation. Olegs Cauna has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mtarfa is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
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 Jul 2035
Words exchanged at Mtarfa
Christian Gauci 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.
Boardroom30 Jul 2035
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad30 Jul 2035
A row about effort at Mtarfa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mark Bennett was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Jul 2035
The borrowing at Mtarfa reaches $3.9M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Jul 2035
“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 Mtarfa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sliema Wanderers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mtarfa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad23 Jul 2035
27 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market23 Jul 2035
Joel Brobbey has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mtarfa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
This is not rotation. Owen Spiteri has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mtarfa is pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Jamie Sixsmith pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Floriana have kept their man, and Mtarfa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom23 Jul 2035
147% of the income goes out in wages at Mtarfa
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Tempers go at Mtarfa
Jason O'Neill 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
Uneasy
Market16 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Balzan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mtarfa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market16 Jul 2035
“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.
Market16 Jul 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
No thanks: Joseph Grech rejects the move
Mtarfa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Santa Lucia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Birkirkara have kept their man, and Mtarfa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Jul 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mtarfa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jul 2035
“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; Mtarfa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
Birzebbuga St. Peter's have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
A loan enquiry to Birkirkara: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
In brief
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Squad
6 new faces, and Mtarfa are still learning each other
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The dugout
When it matters, Christy Pym plays
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The dugout
Marc Santiago gets it from the manager
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Jul 2035
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christy Pym and Mtarfa agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2035
“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 Mtarfa know it.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
Mtarfa asked and Gzira United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Jules Eyraud 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.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Flavio Mecja wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Mtarfa now know that too.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jun 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mtarfa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jun 2035
Mark Bennett 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 Mtarfa can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
The deal with Hamrun Spartans 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.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
Mtarfa asked and Birkirkara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jun 2035
A row about effort at Mtarfa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jules Eyraud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
Floriana have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
A loan enquiry to Zurrieq: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout18 Jun 2035
Christy Pym gets picked when it counts
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 Christy Pym is on it.
The dugout18 Jun 2035
The manager makes an example of Kevin Caruana
“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
Uneasy
Market28 May 2035
“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.
The dugout28 May 2035
This is not rotation. Owen Spiteri has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mtarfa is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 May 2035
A row about effort at Mtarfa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jules Eyraud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom28 May 2035
170% of the income goes out in wages at Mtarfa
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad28 May 2035
A falling-out at Mtarfa
Christian Gauci and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 May 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marc Santiago, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 May 2035
“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 Mtarfa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 May 2035
A row about effort at Mtarfa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mark Bennett was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 May 2035
A stepping stone, not a home, for Diogo Nascimento
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Mtarfa were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
The dugout21 May 2035
Christy Pym has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mtarfa 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.
Squad21 May 2035
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout21 May 2035
Mark Bennett 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 Mark Bennett trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market21 May 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mtarfa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match21 May 2035
Mtarfa in the hunt for Europe
Position 4, 52 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Squad21 May 2035
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Mtarfa has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Apr 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mtarfa can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
This is not rotation. Owen Spiteri has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mtarfa is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom30 Apr 2035
194% of the income goes out in wages at Mtarfa
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad30 Apr 2035
A falling-out at Mtarfa
Christian Gauci and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
Joao Silva gets picked when it counts
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 Joao Silva is on it.
Market30 Apr 2035
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Mtarfa money.
Market30 Apr 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mtarfa, another week without a signature from Joao Silva.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
Kevin Caruana 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.
Market30 Apr 2035
The shop window has Olegs Cauna in it
Mtarfa have let the market know Olegs Cauna can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Apr 2035
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mtarfa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market23 Apr 2035
“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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
A falling-out at Mtarfa
Christoph Kobald and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
The manager makes an example of Jason O'Neill
“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.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
When it matters, Christy Pym plays
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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
A row about effort at Mtarfa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Galin Despodov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
Adnan Castagne 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 Adnan Castagne trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market23 Apr 2035
Elios Minaj runs his contract down
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Mtarfa money.
In brief
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Market
The Donart Lubishtani talk will not go away
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Match
Continental football is in reach for Mtarfa
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Boardroom
The Mtarfa production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Apr 2035
“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 Mtarfa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
“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.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
This is not rotation. Owen Spiteri has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mtarfa is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Apr 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jason O'Neill commits to Mtarfa for another 4 years.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Tempers go at Mtarfa
Leo Umeh 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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
Wages eat 195% of everything Mtarfa earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Apr 2035
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market2 Apr 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad2 Apr 2035
A row about effort at Mtarfa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Galin Despodov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Mar 2035
“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 Mtarfa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Mar 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mtarfa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match10 Mar 2035
Zebbug Rangers left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Words exchanged at Mtarfa
Christian Gauci 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.
Boardroom12 Mar 2035
No signings allowed at Mtarfa
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Leo Umeh is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.20 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
The manager makes an example of Jamie Sixsmith
“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.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Market12 Mar 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market5 Mar 2035
“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 Mtarfa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Mar 2035
Mtarfa refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 45 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.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
This is not rotation. Owen Spiteri has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mtarfa is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Mar 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mtarfa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Mar 2035
“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 Mtarfa know it.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
Wages swallow 197% of the Mtarfa income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match3 Mar 2035
Mtarfa keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match3 Mar 2035
Sirens made Mtarfa work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings5 Mar 2035
Ninety minutes of Olegs Cauna at his very best
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mtarfa.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Feb 2035
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market26 Feb 2035
Ndidi Akpan 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 Mtarfa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Words exchanged at Mtarfa
Jason O'Neill 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.
Match24 Feb 2035
Swieqi United left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christy Pym, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Feb 2035
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match24 Feb 2035
After 4 games, Mtarfa finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Swieqi United; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad26 Feb 2035
A season average of 7.21 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Feb 2035
No mercy from Mtarfa
Zurrieq will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Mtarfa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings12 Feb 2035
A brace, and Leo Umeh takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leo Umeh provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market12 Feb 2035
“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.
Market12 Feb 2035
Only the photograph left for Galin Despodov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Galin Despodov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mtarfa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match10 Feb 2035
Nobody wants to play Mtarfa right now
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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Leo Umeh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mtarfa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom12 Feb 2035
No signings allowed at Mtarfa
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Market12 Feb 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Words at Mtarfa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Santiago 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Jan 2035
Owen Spiteri 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 Mtarfa can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
“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.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2035
Everything agreed with Mosta, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Words exchanged at Mtarfa
Leo Umeh 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.
Match27 Jan 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leo Umeh. 1‑0 against Vittoriosa Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings29 Jan 2035
Leo Umeh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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 dugout29 Jan 2035
Mark Bennett 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.
Squad29 Jan 2035
A row about effort at Mtarfa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Santiago was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Nov 2034
The knee: Joao Silva out for 35 days
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mtarfa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match11 Nov 2034
No end in sight to Mtarfa's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mtarfa has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
This is not rotation. Owen Spiteri has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mtarfa is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Leo Umeh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mtarfa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Nov 2034
Sirens left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom13 Nov 2034
286% of the income goes out in wages at Mtarfa
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings13 Nov 2034
Nobody could get near Leo Umeh
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Nov 2034
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Galin Despodov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market13 Nov 2034
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mark Bennett has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Mtarfa.