Marked for Jonathan Grant
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Oct 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MFK Michalovce is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market8 Oct 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MFK Michalovce can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Hans Boyata has agreed terms with Pohronie for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
$1.2M of the owner's money at MFK Michalovce
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
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.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Polydefkis Volanakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Oct 2035
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
This is not rotation. Robert Mak has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at MFK Michalovce is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
306% of the income goes out in wages at MFK Michalovce
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Sep 2035
Tomas Nemec has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MFK Michalovce they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market10 Sep 2035
“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 The request is on a desk at MFK Michalovce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Tobiáš Gabriš and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Polydefkis Volanakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
171% of the income goes out in wages at MFK Michalovce
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.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
This is not rotation. Robert Mak has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at MFK Michalovce is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad10 Sep 2035
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. MFK Michalovce will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Jul 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. MFK Michalovce have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market9 Jul 2035
“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 MFK Michalovce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Jul 2035
Marek Valjent has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MFK Michalovce they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Tobiáš Gabriš 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.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Polydefkis Volanakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Jul 2035
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market9 Jul 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout9 Jul 2035
The manager makes an example of Danylo Voitko
“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 dugout9 Jul 2035
When it matters, Lukas Benes plays
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jun 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš waiting with a shirt. Nobody at MFK Michalovce is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market25 Jun 2035
“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.
Market25 Jun 2035
A conversation is coming this week. MFK Michalovce will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Polydefkis Volanakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom25 Jun 2035
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom25 Jun 2035
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Danylo Voitko 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 dugout25 Jun 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MFK Michalovce, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Mar 2035
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. MFK Michalovce will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Mar 2035
“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 MFK Michalovce, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Mar 2035
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market26 Mar 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jacopo Pennacchioni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MFK Michalovce the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Polydefkis Volanakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom26 Mar 2035
159% of the income goes out in wages at MFK Michalovce
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.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Tornike Dzotsenidze 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 dugout26 Mar 2035
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dagur Sigurdsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout26 Mar 2035
When it matters, Robert Mak plays
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.