Marked for Markus Lainer
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Dec 2027
Every point is an argument now for Sturm Graz II
Position 14 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Elias Lorenz 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Sturm Graz II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Senad Mustafić 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
Stripfing left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“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 dugout6 Dec 2027
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 Peter Onisiwo to a room that had heard them before.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Ivan Božić makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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.
Market6 Dec 2027
The Jonas Wolf talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sturm Graz II know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Nov 2027
Jonas Wolf 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 Sturm Graz II can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Senad Mustafić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Jonas Wolf has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Sturm Graz II will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luis Balbo Vieira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 Nov 2027
The weekend belonged to Ivan Božić
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Aug 2027
A one-man rearguard from Elias Lorenz
There were 8 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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 Aug 2027
Elias Lorenz 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
0‑2 to Kapfenberg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market23 Aug 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sturm Graz II has been clear about where Christoph Wiener-Pucher stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Gabriel Haider 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.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Both of them Ivan Božić's — 8.60
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.60, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad16 Aug 2027
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 terraces16 Aug 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match14 Aug 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ivan Božić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sturm Graz II.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Sturm Graz II have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.