Marked for Peter Lindner
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Sep 2029
18 matches without a win for Grodig
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Grodig are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Sep 2029
There were 14 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.
Match1 Sep 2029
Grodig are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 11 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match3 Sep 2029
Grodig are in real trouble now
Position 10, 0 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match29 Aug 2029
Grodig bow out of the cup
SV Ried go through and Grodig go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match1 Sep 2029
Nowhere to hide for Grodig
0‑3 against Wolfsberger AC, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Patrick Onisiwo could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.30
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.30, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Grodig close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
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Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Aug 2029
No end in sight to Grodig's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Grodig has to find a result from somewhere.
Match4 Aug 2029
Chastening afternoon for Grodig
A 0‑4 beating by Austria Wien was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad6 Aug 2029
There were 9 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.
Match4 Aug 2029
Grodig are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rapid Wien have kept their man, and Grodig go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Rapid Wien wanted more than $480.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Grodig
Alexander Schwaighofer 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Peter Lindner is 15, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Marko Ilsanker
“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
Crisis
Market9 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Adrien Thibaut
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adrien Thibaut will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grodig the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market9 Apr 2029
“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 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Grodig
Alexander Schwaighofer 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
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The dugout9 Apr 2029
A promise honoured at Grodig
Something was said to Benjamin Leneis and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market9 Apr 2029
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Grodig money.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Nino Lesjak has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Grodig 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Grodig says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Dec 2028
“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.
Market11 Dec 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dominik Kirnbauer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grodig the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
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Squad11 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Grodig
Benjamin Leneis 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Grodig
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Scheibenhofer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Philipp Erhardt
“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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“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; Grodig are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
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 dugout11 Dec 2028
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.