“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MSK Zilina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MSK Zilina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Miroslav Káčer 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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Michal Faško 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.
A 3‑1 win over DAC Dunajska Streda, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings29 Sep 2031
Xavier Adang was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.79. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MSK Zilina 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 MSK Zilina can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MSK Zilina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MSK Zilina 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 MSK Zilina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Words at MSK Zilina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Faško 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 goal that put Spartak Trnava ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when MSK Zilina equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Jakub Badžgoň
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MSK Zilina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Miroslav Káčer 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.
“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; MSK Zilina are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
A 2‑0 win over MFK Ruzomberok, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Michal Tomič was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MSK Zilina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Zlate Moravce the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that MSK Zilina will enjoy reviewing.
“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 MSK Zilina, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MSK Zilina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation MSK Zilina did not have in the autumn.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Words at MSK Zilina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Faško 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. 36 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.
Position 10 and 5 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. FK Senica moved on, Matúš Macík reports back to MSK Zilina, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Miroslav Káčer 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at MSK Zilina hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Michal Tomič 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 words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from MFK Michalovce for Michal Tomič 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MSK Zilina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MSK Zilina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Robert Valjent again, and this time the name on the line is Spartak Myjava. MSK Zilina are listening politely and promising nothing.
At 20 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from MFK Skalica for Matúš Macík 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MSK Zilina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at MSK Zilina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Tomič 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Marvin Owusu has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Zlate Moravce will make the call about Robert Valjent this week. MSK Zilina have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pavel Pashevich has his answer from MSK Zilina; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MSK Zilina can pretend not to have heard.
Miroslav Káčer 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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Jakub Badžgoň 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at MSK Zilina hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Nobody at MSK Zilina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Miroslav Káčer 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.
Squad19 May 2031
Michal Faško 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.
Nobody at MSK Zilina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MSK Zilina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 MSK Zilina, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MSK Zilina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at MSK Zilina training over how hard people work
“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 MSK Zilina, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MSK Zilina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words at MSK Zilina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Faško 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Ďatko signs something — a contract at MSK Zilina or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.77 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MSK Zilina 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 MSK Zilina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at MSK Zilina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Tomič 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.
“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; MSK Zilina are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
28 graduates from an academy now rated 11 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
In brief
The terracesThe press cannot get enough of Michal Faško
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MSK Zilina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MSK Zilina can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MSK Zilina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Miroslav Káčer 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.
In brief
SquadMichal Faško falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadMichal Tomič has become a man the manager trusts