Marked for Peter Alaba
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Julian Hussauf commits to FC Liefering for another 4 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at FC Liefering training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rocco Žiković 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Rocco Žiković knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FC Liefering, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Peter Alaba 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.
Market9 Apr 2029
The clock does Enrique Aguilar’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee FC Liefering could ask drops and the wages Enrique Aguilar can ask rise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Mar 2029
The offer from Stjarnan for Miha Matjašec 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rocco Žiković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces5 Mar 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Quirin Rackl has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Phillip Verhounig and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
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.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.42 on the card, and the FC Liefering support went home talking about one name.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Amel Avdić
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Amel Avdić has come out of that comparison in the side, and FC Liefering have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
No place for Amel Avdić on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at FC Liefering pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Peter Alaba, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 May 2028
Frans Krätzig 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 Red Bull Salzburg hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad8 May 2028
Frans Krätzig 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Gaoussou Diakité 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 dugout8 May 2028
Zétény Jánó 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.
Market8 May 2028
“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.
The dugout8 May 2028
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 Florian Kastenmeier is on it.
Squad8 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Red Bull Salzburg would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Loan watch8 May 2028
32 starts and a season average of 6.78. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Sep 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match25 Sep 2027
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Marked 7.88 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad27 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Bull Salzburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces27 Sep 2027
At 21 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.
Looking ahead27 Sep 2027
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Rapid Wien on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Red Bull Salzburg, and 4 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Red Bull Salzburg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Frans Krätzig and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Red Bull Salzburg
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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Peter Wimmer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dejan Ilsanker 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Peter Alaba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Loan watch26 Jul 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Red Bull Salzburg, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Frans Krätzig 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 Frans Krätzig is on it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Red Bull Salzburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Moswitzer 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.