Marked for Thomas Pledl
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Winsley Boteli had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Match14 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Sion's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sion has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Sion did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Sion
Metinho 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 Aug 2027
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rilind Nivokazi 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adrien Llukes and Sion agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Nias Hefti
7.54, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Sion had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Too much change too quickly at Sion
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market19 Jul 2027
Baltazar puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Sion, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Sion say no — this time
The offer from Charleroi for Timothy Fayulu 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Metinho has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Sion can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Sion
Metinho 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Sion
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Racioppi 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
Sion are making the ground bigger
Work is signed off on a capacity of 15818. It is the sort of decision a club is judged on twenty years later, by people who were not there when it was taken.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout31 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sion may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Sion
Anthony Racioppi 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Sion
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rilind Nivokazi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Pledl, and the manager let it.
Market31 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sion know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.