Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sturm Graz is running low.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sturm Graz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juho Talvitie 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; Sturm Graz are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sturm Graz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
MarketThe clock does David Kalem’s negotiating for him
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sturm Graz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sturm Graz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sturm Graz know it.
Justin Omoregie 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Juho Talvitie 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2033
115% of the income goes out in wages at Sturm Graz
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sturm Graz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Laurenz Orgler: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hartberg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Santino López García wants continental football; whether Hartberg can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Everything agreed with Sturm Graz, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
In brief
Player ratingsFilip Vecheta has a hand in both — 7.87
SquadA move Enzo Castillo would have made for nothing
SquadWords at Hartberg training over how hard people work
Abderrahmane Ndaw 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Wolfgang Weimann has come out of that comparison in the side, and Sturm Graz II have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sten Kremers trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Halvor Opsahl has his answer from Sturm Graz II; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 Jan 2033
A Sturm Graz II teenager takes the young player award
Thomas Prass is 17, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sturm Graz II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 17 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Otar Kiteishvili. 2‑0 against Kapfenberg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
At 17 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sturm Graz II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Maximilian Grillitsch 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.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Wolfgang Weimann trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The young player of the month award goes to a 17-year-old at Sturm Graz II who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. David Dragovic has come out of that comparison in the side, and Sturm Graz II have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Dylan Mbayo has moved up it.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Austria Salzburg? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Half the programme played, position 8, 21 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Thomas Prass, 17, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Sturm Graz II would like this to lead.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Prass did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 21 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Young Violets were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Thomas Prass 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.
Squad22 Nov 2032
The division's best last weekend was a Sturm Graz II man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that David Dragovic was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
SquadThomas Prass is the weekend's best young player
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Dragovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sturm Graz II 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 Sturm Graz II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
A Sturm Graz II teenager takes the young player award
Thomas Prass is 17, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Otar Kiteishvili signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz II or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Sturm Graz II have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Tizian-Valentino Scharmer 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dylan Mbayo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Chances created: 7. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Minute 85, against Hartberg, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
At 17 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sturm Graz II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A 2‑2 draw with Altach leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad18 Oct 2032
A Sturm Graz II teenager takes the young player award
Thomas Prass is 17, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Otar Kiteishvili signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz II or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Chances created: 5. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sturm Graz II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Thomas Prass 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Dmytro Kryskiv has moved up it.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Thomas Prass, 17, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Sturm Graz II would like this to lead.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Thomas Prass 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.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
At 17 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Sturm Graz II have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 11 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Minute 89, against FC Liefering, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thomas Prass and Sturm Graz II agree another 4 years.
“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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutDylan Mbayo knocks on the manager’s door
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sturm Graz II have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kévin Boma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Manuel López. The answer from Sturm Graz II has not changed — yet.
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.