Marked for Patrick Ilsanker
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Sep 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 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 The request is on a desk at Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Sep 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Sep 2035
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Words at Stripfing training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Kamilov 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.
Match22 Sep 2035
The run is over for Stripfing
4 matches without defeat, and then FC Liefering. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad24 Sep 2035
“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 Stripfing know it.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Sep 2035
A fracture rules Patrick Ilsanker out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stripfing will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match15 Sep 2035
Stripfing cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Max Kleinbruckner has just signed for Stripfing, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2035
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Red Bull Salzburg keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Julian Lazaro 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.
Boardroom17 Sep 2035
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.
Boardroom17 Sep 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.
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
The afternoon belonged to Bas Snaet
A mark of 7.98, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
In brief
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Stripfing
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Emil Kamilov is still being punished for one mistake
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Sep 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
Stripfing had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Red Bull Salzburg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lamine Diawara has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Stripfing have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Market10 Sep 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stripfing, another week without a signature from João Félix.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Stripfing will try again when the window opens; Altach may not be selling by then.
Squad10 Sep 2035
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Kamilov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emil Kamilov, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
Julian Lazaro is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Agustín Bitancurt 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Sep 2035
Toby Vanaken takes the match ball home
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match1 Sep 2035
A 3‑2 win over Altach, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match29 Aug 2035
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Toby Vanaken obliged against Altach. 4‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Stripfing.
Match1 Sep 2035
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Stripfing found something the first half had given no notice of, and Altach could not hold what they had.
Squad3 Sep 2035
A fracture rules Patrick Ilsanker out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stripfing will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad3 Sep 2035
A day João Félix will not forget
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings3 Sep 2035
João Félix, 35, rolls back the years — 9.48
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.48 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings3 Sep 2035
Toby Vanaken, 21, steals the show — 8.27
Marked 8.27 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2035
The clubs have shaken hands with Altach; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Aug 2035
A fracture rules Patrick Ilsanker out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stripfing will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market27 Aug 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 Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings27 Aug 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2035
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rapid Wien is saying, and nobody at Stripfing is enjoying the guessing.
Squad27 Aug 2035
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Félix was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings27 Aug 2035
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Match25 Aug 2035
It finished 2‑1, and it was João Félix’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Stripfing.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Marcell Hall 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 Stripfing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Time is catching up with Elias Saad
Everybody at Stripfing 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Aug 2035
A fracture rules Patrick Ilsanker out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stripfing will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market20 Aug 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stripfing is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market20 Aug 2035
Olsen Djédjé hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stripfing can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout20 Aug 2035
Gabriel Salvetti: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stripfing have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Red Bull Salzburg keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Ignacio Romero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom20 Aug 2035
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 dugout20 Aug 2035
The manager makes an example of Dominik Neumann
“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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Emil Kamilov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Aug 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Aug 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 Stripfing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Everything agreed with Red Bull Salzburg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Red Bull Salzburg keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad13 Aug 2035
A row about effort at Stripfing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Félix was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Aug 2035
“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; Stripfing are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets13 Aug 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.
Match11 Aug 2035
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Marcell Hall 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Aug 2035
68 days out for Patrick Ilsanker after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stripfing will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout6 Aug 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.
Squad6 Aug 2035
João Félix 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 dugout6 Aug 2035
João Félix 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.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Dominik Neumann 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.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Stripfing asked and Rapid Wien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings6 Aug 2035
Nobody could get near Elias Saad
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match4 Aug 2035
Hertha Wels made Stripfing work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market6 Aug 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jul 2035
75 days out for Patrick Ilsanker after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stripfing will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout30 Jul 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stripfing may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Everything agreed with Blau-Weiß Linz, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings30 Jul 2035
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Jul 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kaion Lisbie commits to Stripfing for another 3 years.
Boardroom30 Jul 2035
9 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market30 Jul 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marco Dragovic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market30 Jul 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kevin Ulmer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market30 Jul 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marco Arnautovic 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Jul 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Jul 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stripfing is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market23 Jul 2035
Toby Vanaken hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stripfing can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Jul 2035
João Félix 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.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Words exchanged at Stripfing
Eskil Edh 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.
Boardroom23 Jul 2035
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 dugout23 Jul 2035
The manager makes an example of Dominik Neumann
“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.
Squad23 Jul 2035
“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; Stripfing are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
A loan enquiry to WSG Tirol: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.