Marked for Rafael Pace
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 May 2033
Rafael Pace 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 Zabbar St. Patrick can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 May 2033
Strahinja Jovančić 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.
Squad23 May 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zabbar St. Patrick this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 May 2033
Words at Zabbar St. Patrick training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
Squad16 May 2033
Nicholas James Agius 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 dugout16 May 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Mallia, and the manager let it.
Market16 May 2033
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Malick Soumah’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 May 2033
Rafael Pace 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 Rafael Pace is on it.
Match16 May 2033
Position 6, 29 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Apr 2033
Zean Leonardi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Apr 2033
Victor Ellul 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.
Market18 Apr 2033
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Malick Soumah’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout18 Apr 2033
When it matters, Rafael Pace 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.
Match18 Apr 2033
Position 6, 29 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.
The dugout18 Apr 2033
Simon Vella 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 Simon Vella trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Mar 2033
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zabbar St. Patrick lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Mar 2033
Words at Zabbar St. Patrick training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Strahinja Jovančić 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.
Squad21 Mar 2033
Nicholas James Agius 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 Mar 2033
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Market21 Mar 2033
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Malick Soumah’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout21 Mar 2033
When it matters, Rafael Pace 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Feb 2033
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zabbar St. Patrick lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Strahinja Jovančić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Zean Leonardi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2033
The window shuts on the Valerio Luongo deal
Zabbar St. Patrick ran out of time with Naxxar Lions. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout21 Feb 2033
The manager makes an example of Simon Vella
“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 dugout21 Feb 2033
Rafael Pace 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 Rafael Pace is on it.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Simon Vella: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Zabbar St. Patrick will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Match21 Feb 2033
Continental football is in reach for Zabbar St. Patrick
29 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.