Francesco Folino 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 Lee Nicholls was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Vaduz 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mischa Eberhard trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have shaken hands with Sion; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vaduz can pretend not to have heard.
Francesco Folino and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Lee Nicholls 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 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 Vaduz know it.
Vaduz have made the call to Manchester City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jan Bamert trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Alessio Hasler's mistake
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lee Nicholls 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grasshopper have kept their man, and Vaduz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Vaduz 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.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vaduz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Jan Bamert 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 Francesco Folino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Denis Simani has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kenny Quetant trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Vaduz 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vaduz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vaduz can pretend not to have heard.
Vaduz have gone to Grasshopper 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Oliver Whatmuff is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Jan Bamert 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.
A new face in his position, and Leon Schaffran suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Vaduz have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
A season-long audition: Manchester City still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Vaduz's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vaduz 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 Vaduz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Vaduz have gone to Zurich 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vaduz 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 Denis Simani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Marcel Monsberger has moved up it.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vaduz 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 Vaduz can pretend not to have heard.
Dória and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Denis Simani 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
8 new faces, and Vaduz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Simani 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 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.
Dória 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Luca Mack 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 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 Vaduz know it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jonathan de Donno has his answer from Vaduz; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonathan de Donno trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vaduz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Cristhofer Maqueda is living that version at Vaduz, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dória 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.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutMischa Beeli knocks on the manager's door
“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 Vaduz, and it is not being withdrawn.
The bid was some way short and Vaduz did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Vaduz until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ascoli is saying, and nobody at Vaduz is enjoying the guessing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucky Letwaba is living that version at Vaduz, and it tends to show in the first month.
Jan Bamert 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 Dória was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Vaduz will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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 Vaduz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ayo Akinola 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vaduz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Vaduz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Mack 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 young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Vaduz who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vaduz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Mack 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.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Noah Widmer left the room before anybody could ask which.
Sigma Olomouc have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.