The Austin FC Gazette
Market26 Nov 2035
Belal Ateya is on his way
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Austin FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom26 Nov 2035
Austin FC to lose Belal Ateya for free
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Belal Ateya has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Owen Wolff in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Austin FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
Belal Ateya gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Dylan Borso 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.
Market26 Nov 2035
The Gianluca Busio question follows Austin FC around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gianluca Busio’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
Sean Tillman is still paying for one afternoon at Austin FC
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.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
George Weah gets picked when it counts
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 George Weah is on it.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
Owen Howard has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Owen Howard has written the date down.
In brief
- Loan watch Christian Adams's loan at CF Montreal nearly up
- Match Mid-table, and Austin FC know it
- Squad Michael Aaronson back in training