The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gzira United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Birkirkara for Zak Sowden-Fletcher 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gzira United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luís Riascos 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.
Gzira United asked and Hamrun Spartans said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Josué Guzmán 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gzira United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gzira United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Gudja United for Riley McLachlan 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gzira United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 Gzira United now know that too.
“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 The request is on a desk at Gzira United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gzira United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Melita for David Baker 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Marsaxlokk is saying, and nobody at Gzira United is enjoying the guessing.
The phone has started ringing about Riley McLachlan again, and this time the name on the line is Gudja United. Gzira United are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josué Guzmán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gzira United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luís Riascos 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marley Dors was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad20 Nov 2034
6 new faces, and Gzira United are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” David Baker has his answer from Gzira United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zak Sowden-Fletcher trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gzira United told Daniel Kelly something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Josué Guzmán’s negotiating for him
Compensation agreed, contract signed, and a manager gone who was never for sale. Gzira United begin the search from behind, which is the only place a club in this position ever begins.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
270 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Baker will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gzira United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gzira United and Tarxien Rainbows have settled on $130.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gzira United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Gzira United close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 18 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 words a physio says slowly. 48 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gzira United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom31 Jul 2034
Somebody else wants the manager
Newcastle United have made their interest known and Gzira United have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gzira United can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gzira United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gzira United asked and Hamrun Spartans said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everybody at Gzira United saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad31 Jul 2034
Words at Gzira United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evert Suominen 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.
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gzira United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Gzira United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gzira United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Rúnar Leó Hólmarsson has come up in conversations Gzira United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A conversation is coming this week. Gzira United will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad17 Jul 2034
Words at Gzira United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph Thompson 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.
“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; Gzira United are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gzira United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gzira United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Everything agreed with Marsaxlokk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
“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 Gzira United will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gzira United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gzira United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gzira United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom6 Feb 2034
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Gzira United until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gzira United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Birkirkara will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Tumelo Shai has pre-agreed a move to Gzira United, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gzira United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mgarr United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gzira United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7.88, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michael Ross will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gzira United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal that would have taken David Baker to Zebbug Rangers has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Gzira United with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Melita have kept their man, and Gzira United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gzira United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Rúnar Leó Hólmarsson 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.
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.
The dugout12 Dec 2033
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” the manager kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad12 Dec 2033
Words at Gzira United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xavier Venâncio 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.