99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Marsaxlokk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Marsaxlokk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Marsaxlokk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marsaxlokk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stephen Borg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Marsaxlokk has worked with Wout Dumfries before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 Kristian Kjerkreit is on it.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Marsaxlokk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Marsaxlokk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces31 Mar 2036
The mood at Marsaxlokk has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Marsaxlokk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Marsaxlokk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stephen Borg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Marsaxlokk has worked with Wout Dumfries before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Marsaxlokk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Marsaxlokk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marsaxlokk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stephen Borg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Marsaxlokk has worked with Wout Dumfries before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at Marsaxlokk 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Marsaxlokk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Marsaxlokk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Marsaxlokk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Abdul Mumini Salifu 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.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Stephen Borg 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 new man at Marsaxlokk has worked with Wout Dumfries before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at Marsaxlokk 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Marsaxlokk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Abdul Mumini Salifu 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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Stephen Borg 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Marsaxlokk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The new man at Marsaxlokk has worked with Wout Dumfries before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at Marsaxlokk 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.
Wout Dumfries had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Mosta were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mgarr United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Marsaxlokk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal with Hamrun Spartans is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“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.
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
Stephen Borg, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Marsaxlokk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Abdul Mumini Salifu 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 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.
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.
“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; Marsaxlokk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Marsaxlokk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Marsaxlokk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Words at Marsaxlokk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristian Kjerkreit 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Marsaxlokk will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Marsaxlokk 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 Marsaxlokk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Words at Marsaxlokk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristian Kjerkreit 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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Marsaxlokk who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Abdul Mumini Salifu 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bogdan Ratiu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Marsaxlokk dressing room was either.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
A brace, and Stephen Borg takes the afternoon — 9.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stephen Borg provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Marsaxlokk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Abdul Mumini Salifu 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 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Stephen Borg 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.
“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 dugout22 Oct 2035
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.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Marsaxlokk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Marsaxlokk can pretend not to have heard.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Christoph Grillitsch has agreed terms with Mgarr United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The shirt still fits. Wout Dumfries is back at Marsaxlokk, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marsaxlokk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vittoriosa Stars will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Olegs Fertovs has pre-agreed a move to Marsaxlokk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bogdan Ratiu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
SquadStephen Borg is the month’s best young player
Abdul Mumini Salifu 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 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.
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
3‑0, and Stephen Borg took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Marsaxlokk tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Stephen Borg, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.75
A mark of 9.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Abdul Mumini Salifu 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mgarr United were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Stephen Borg 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bogdan Ratiu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Marsaxlokk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Marsaxlokk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom27 Aug 2035
7 academy players handed senior numbers at Marsaxlokk
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.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Words at Marsaxlokk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Mumini Salifu 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Marsaxlokk will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Everything agreed with Hamrun Spartans, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Words at Marsaxlokk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Mumini Salifu 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.
Mpho Moletsane 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Marsaxlokk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Marsaxlokk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Naxxar Lions waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Marsaxlokk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Marsaxlokk can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdul Mumini Salifu and Marsaxlokk agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdul Mumini Salifu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Kristian Kjerkreit is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“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 Marsaxlokk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Marsaxlokk is running low.
The offer from Swieqi United for Reece Wilson 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marsaxlokk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Stephen Borg 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.
A loan enquiry to Hamrun Spartans: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Marsaxlokk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Marsaxlokk can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The offer from Balzan for Destiny Okonkwo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Marsaxlokk can pretend not to have heard.
Abdul Mumini Salifu 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 name of Reece Wilson has come up in conversations Marsaxlokk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad2 Jul 2035
Words at Marsaxlokk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bogdan Ratiu 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.
A loan enquiry to Hamrun Spartans: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
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.
In brief
The dugoutStephen Borg loses the manager who believed in him
“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 Marsaxlokk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kristian Kjerkreit 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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Swieqi United moved on, Peter Hughes reports back to Marsaxlokk, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Words at Marsaxlokk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Mumini Salifu 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Marsaxlokk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Brandon Johnson is on it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Marsaxlokk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Miles Dest 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.
He is 20, and nobody at Marsaxlokk signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jonas Dietrich has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alex Baird trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Stephen Borg is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sliema Wanderers will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Tadi Bare 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Oliver Lynch is on it.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Sliema Wanderers could ask drops and the wages Stephen Borg can ask rise.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Lynch will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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.
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 Sifiso Mazibuko is on it.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
In brief
The dugoutStephen Borg knocks on the manager's door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sliema Wanderers will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stephen Borg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tom Watson commits to Sliema Wanderers for another 3 years.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Tadi Bare 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.
Oliver Lynch 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.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aaron Zammit and Sliema Wanderers agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kurt Gatt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Oliver Lynch is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers 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 Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tadi Bare 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.
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.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers 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.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 12 and 12 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stephen Borg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kurt Gatt and Sliema Wanderers agree another 3 years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sliema Wanderers is running low.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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; Sliema Wanderers are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Sliema Wanderers who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benjamin Aagesen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sam Olsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Stephen Borg 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.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Tadi Bare 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stephen Borg trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Oliver Lynch is on it.
“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 Sliema Wanderers will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutBradley Tau is still being punished for one mistake
MarketThe clock does Stephen Borg’s negotiating for him
0‑4 against Gzira United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hamrun Spartans have kept their man, and Sliema Wanderers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Oliver Lynch 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.
It had gone 9 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Boardroom5 Feb 2035
Sliema Wanderers close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 3 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.
Add another name to the list: Balzan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oliver Lynch. The answer from Sliema Wanderers has not changed — yet.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stephen Borg. 2‑1 against Mgarr United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Tadi Bare 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kakha Kiteishvili 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.
Player ratings5 Feb 2035
Sifiso Mazibuko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luis Alvarez
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sliema Wanderers has to find a result from somewhere.
The deal with Hamrun Spartans is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sliema Wanderers 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tadi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Tom Watson
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Ferguson 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matthew Lay, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Dec 2034
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Danil Batyrshin 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.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Tadi Bare 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Stephen Borg 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bradley Furman. 2‑0 against Gzira United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Gzira United spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
“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 dugout27 Nov 2034
the manager has his say
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” the manager on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Danil Batyrshin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aaron Ferguson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 19 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Sliema Wanderers this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
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 Oliver Lynch is on it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Bradley Tau's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tadi Bare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Sliema Wanderers are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Bradley Tau's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sliema Wanderers, another week without a signature from Charalambos Makris.
Bradley Furman, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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; Sliema Wanderers are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Tadi Bare 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.
Everybody at Sliema Wanderers saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
In brief
The dugoutthe manager answers for it
BoardroomNobody arrives at Sliema Wanderers until somebody leaves
The dugoutStephen Borg knocks on the manager's door
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.55 for the rest of it.
Sliema Wanderers 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Lynch will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
258 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Sliema Wanderers know exactly what they have.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Sliema Wanderers close the window on a squad of their own making
19 in and 28 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 deal with Hibernians is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Stephen Borg 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Stephen Borg 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 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.
At 20 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aaron Zammit 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.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sliema Wanderers 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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sliema Wanderers have done the hard part with Hamrun Spartans, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Floriana have kept their man, and Sliema Wanderers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Sliema Wanderers is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabinho 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.
A loan enquiry to Hamrun Spartans: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sliema Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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; Sliema Wanderers are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sliema Wanderers 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.
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.
A loan enquiry to Hamrun Spartans: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Peter Hughes is in the works
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Naxxar Lions had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Hamrun Spartans, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Sliema Wanderers asked and Birkirkara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sliema Wanderers has been clear about where Bassim Antar stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Xheron Osma 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Oliver Lynch