Marked for Karol Mets
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom10 May 2027
St. Pauli still without a manager
9 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
The dugout10 May 2027
Karol Mets 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.
Match8 May 2027
0‑1 to FC Augsburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lynden Edhart 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 dugout10 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout10 May 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Karol Mets
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout10 May 2027
A promise honoured at St. Pauli
Something was said to Abdoulie Ceesay and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad10 May 2027
Rosmel Villaneuva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at St. Pauli, another week without a signature from Abdoulie Ceesay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 May 2027
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Boardroom3 May 2027
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Squad3 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at St. Pauli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match1 May 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Lion Lauberbach
“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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Paul Franke leaves with $64.2K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at St. Pauli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lynden Edhart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Anger at St. Pauli spills outside the ground
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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at St. Pauli
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at St. Pauli is running low.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Youssoupha Niang: 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.” St. Pauli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon St. Pauli had all but put away. RB Leipzig will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Rosmel Villaneuva 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Mar 2027
St. Pauli say no — this time
The offer from Ilves for Rony Jansson was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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 St. Pauli know it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Karol Mets left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Karol Mets will call it something else in private.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to João Pedro, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at St. Pauli
Something was said to Nathaniel Brown and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Karol Mets dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
St. Pauli are still strangers to each other
6 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Marked 7.25 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, St. Pauli had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
10 matches without a win for St. Pauli
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around St. Pauli are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for St. Pauli
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Borussia Mönchengladbach kept coming because nothing stopped them, and St. Pauli will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Tomoya Ando for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. St. Pauli will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Karol Mets and St. Pauli agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match12 Dec 2026
St. Pauli leaking at the back
4 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Tomoya Ando
“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.
Market14 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taichi Hara 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 Dec 2026
Rosmel Villaneuva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to St. Pauli's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at St. Pauli has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martijn Kaars, and the manager let it.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Werder Bremen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Nov 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 Paul Franke to a room that had heard them before.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A quiet fortnight at St. Pauli
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
Market9 Nov 2026
The name of Martijn Kaars keeps appearing in other people's back pages. St. Pauli say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at St. Pauli that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to St. Pauli's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at St. Pauli has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taichi Hara 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Connor Metcalfe, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Tomoya Ando 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Martijn Kaars. St. Pauli will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at St. Pauli, another week without a signature from Abdoulie Ceesay.