Position 10 and 20 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Noah Ringbeck is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Andreas Leitner 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Yusuf Maart.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Dejan Grillitsch to a room that had heard them before.
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 Jussef Nasrawe is on it.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1‑4 to WSG Tirol, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
6 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.
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. 24 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.
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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Up for the corner, and Andre Dozzell delivers — 7.94
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Andre Dozzell scored, was marked 7.94, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikki Havenaar 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.
Oliver Steurer 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.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Samuele Inácio, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Martin Rasner will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SV Ried the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Yusuf Maart 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikki Havenaar 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.
Yusuf Maart 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Noah Ringbeck is 19, 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Nikki Havenaar
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SV Ried 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 SV Ried 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 Philipp Pomer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at SV Ried, another week without a signature from Jussef Nasrawe.
“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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jussef Nasrawe 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 Elias Scherf is on it.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Ringbeck did not need any: 7.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Ried this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ante Bajić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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.” Dejan Grillitsch kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Nobody at SV Ried is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
In brief
The dugoutJussef Nasrawe asks for a word with the manager
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Andreas Leitner 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 Sep 2027
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Pomer 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.
He is 19 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.
“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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dejan Grillitsch, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
At 19 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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Ried this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Austria Wien left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Philipp Pomer 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 goal that put Austria Wien ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when SV Ried equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dejan Grillitsch after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Andreas Leitner 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Fabian Rossdorfer 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.
Three points for SV Ried, 1‑0 the final word against WSG Tirol in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad23 Aug 2027
11 new faces, and SV Ried are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Marked 7.38 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, SV Ried had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
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.” Dejan Grillitsch kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samuele di Benedetto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 SV Ried, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Din Barlov ended with $1.2M changing hands and St. Pölten out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Andreas Leitner and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Philipp Pomer 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 mood at SV Ried 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SV Ried can pretend not to have heard.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Elias Baum 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at SV Ried. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SV Ried can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Ried this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Adam Maher commits to SV Ried for another 1 years.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikki Havenaar 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Elias Baum 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 Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Oliver Steurer 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jussef Nasrawe'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 table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at SV Ried says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Dejan Grillitsch has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Oliver Steurer 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emmanuel Ojukwu is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
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 is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Elias Baum was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
Elias Baum 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 Mar 2027
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikki Havenaar 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.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Ried this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at SV Ried would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
In brief
The dugoutJulian Turi knocks on the manager’s door
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SV Ried can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SV Ried, and both men came out saying it was fine.
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SV Ried can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Elias Baum 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.
“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 SV Ried, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 135 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.
Oliver Steurer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikki Havenaar 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at SV Ried, and 1 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonas Mayer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Oliver Steurer 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.
“I watch every SV Ried game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Austria Salzburg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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. 150 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.
“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 SV Ried, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
SV Ried asked and Pogon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michael Sollbauer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Martin Hinteregger has written the date down.
157 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Ried lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 SV Ried, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SV Ried may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
SV Ried close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 4 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.
SV Ried had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Orenburg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Elias Baum 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
172 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Panathinaikos is saying, and nobody at SV Ried is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Ried 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 Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 SV Ried, and 7 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jussef Nasrawe's mistake
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Minute 89, against Altach, 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.
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.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried 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 SV Ried can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Oliver Sorg, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑6 against Blau-Weiß Linz, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Elias Baum 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about SV Ried and Blau-Weiß Linz in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 5 saves does not settle it either way.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the SV Ried dressing room in a hurry
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
Elias Baum 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 22 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.
Minute 90, against Wolfsberger AC, 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.” Martin Hinteregger and SV Ried agree another 2 years.
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SV Ried lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Oliver Steurer 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikki Havenaar 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 words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SV Ried have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Ried this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Position 8, 13 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Something was said to Elias Baum and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Dejan Grillitsch to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Looking aheadSV Ried take on the side everybody is chasing
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Elias Baum 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikki Havenaar 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 point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
It needed Kingstone Mutandwa to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Grazer AK, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Philipp Pomer is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Dejan Grillitsch chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. SV Ried will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Andreas Leitner 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 Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Dejan Grillitsch kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Grazer AK in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutJonas Mayer knocks on the manager’s door
Andreas Leitner 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikki Havenaar. 1‑0 against Sturm Graz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dejan Grillitsch, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SV Ried, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
At 31 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. SV Ried have a decision that made itself.
Elias Baum 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.
SV Ried ran out of time with Austria Lustenau. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
SV Ried offered $59.0K; Sturm Graz said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikki Havenaar 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and SV Ried are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Rok Kidrič
Austria Lustenau have accepted the money. What SV Ried do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $62.6K — a club that wants Daniel Sumbu enough to be asked twice.
Elias Baum 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 offer went to Sturm Graz this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
$1.7M on the table at Blau-Weiß Linz. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Napoli is saying, and nobody at SV Ried is enjoying the guessing.
SV Ried asked and FAC 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.
Andreas Leitner 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.
SV Ried have gone to Hartberg with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikki Havenaar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation SV Ried are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 SV Ried, and it is not being withdrawn.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Austria Lustenau pay $340.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
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.
SV Ried asked and Schalke 04 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nikki Havenaar scored, was marked 7.94, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.2M — a club that wants Elias Havel enough to be asked twice.
Andreas Leitner 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 Dominik Kirnbauer has come up in conversations SV Ried were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Julian Lindner 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Patrick Ulmer 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kevin Sabitzer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
SquadWords at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Yusuf Maart 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at SV Ried training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikki Havenaar 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Yusuf Maart’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“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 dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dejan Grillitsch was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the SV Ried dressing room was either.