The clubs have shaken hands with Stripfing; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Amstetten had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Red Bull Salzburg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$21.0K on the table at Altach. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The phone has started ringing about Thomas Mayer again, and this time the name on the line is Hertha Wels. Amstetten are listening politely and promising nothing.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felix Köchl 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.
Everything agreed with Red Bull Salzburg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Yanis Eisschill 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amstetten, another week without a signature from Murat Şatin.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Felix Köchl 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.
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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Amstetten have had the benefit of it.
Joe Lewis 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 loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at Amstetten no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten 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 Felix Köchl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Thomas Mayer has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Peham knocks on the manager's door
Tim Schunck and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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.
Soumaïla Diabaté 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 Moussa Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
Felix Köchl 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 watch every Amstetten game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at St. Pölten runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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. George Davies has moved up it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten 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 Moussa Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Soumaïla Diabaté and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Moussa Cissé 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Seedy Jatta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Felix Köchl 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
6 new faces, and Amstetten 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.
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.
Position 11 on 34 points, with the season drifting toward the summer. It is the safest place in football and the hardest one to sell a season ticket from.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Amstetten have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrick Obermüller and Amstetten agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten 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 Moussa Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felix Köchl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Amstetten told Bernd Gschweidl something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Amstetten would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Amstetten has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Joe Lewis 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 Moussa Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Soumaïla Diabaté 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 Mar 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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.
At 21 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amstetten, another week without a signature from Fabian Ehmann.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Amstetten can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Amstetten are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felix Köchl 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
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 0‑2 Wolfgang Lienhart left the room before anybody could ask which.
Jan Krajnc is 20, and Amstetten have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 85% of everything Amstetten earn
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tim Schunck did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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.
Three points for Amstetten, 1‑0 the final word against Austria Salzburg in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout22 Feb 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.” Wolfgang Lienhart kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Tim Schunck has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
6 new faces, and Amstetten 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Amstetten will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Amstetten would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nobody at Amstetten 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.
Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FAC Wien have kept their man, and Amstetten go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Moussa Cissé 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.
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stef Nijland and Amstetten agree another 1 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Felix Köchl 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Amstetten scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tim Schunck did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Amstetten close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 2 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.
6 matches without a win, and then this, against FC Liefering. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Moussa Cissé 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.
Amstetten asked and Altach said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Amstetten has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Tim Schunck, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Hertha Wels, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Moussa Cissé 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LASK have kept their man, and Amstetten go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Amstetten can pretend not to have heard.
Joe Lewis 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Seedy Jatta from Sturm Graz for $1.9M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Amstetten asked and Austria Lustenau said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Amstetten had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Stripfing, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
Amstetten have gone to Sturm Graz 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.
Joe Lewis 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 Moussa Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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. Hartberg have kept their man, and Amstetten go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Amstetten dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
At 19 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Austria Klagenfurt had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felix Köchl 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
A 1‑1 draw with Austria Klagenfurt leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Wolfgang Lienhart was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Amstetten dressing room was either.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Amstetten told Aleksandar Djordjević something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A mark of 7.75 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 Moussa Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Tim Schunck 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Dec 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.” Wolfgang Lienhart chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Aleksandar Djordjević 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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aleksandar Djordjević did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Joe Lewis 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aleksandar Djordjević. 1‑0 against Sturm Graz II, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Wolfgang Lienhart on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Peham commits to Amstetten for another 1 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Felix Köchl 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 dugout7 Dec 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 Wolfgang Lienhart to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Moussa Cissé 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.
Position 13, 14 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
BoardroomWages swallow 90% of the Amstetten income
Tim Schunck, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moussa Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yanis Eisschill 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 dugout23 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Wolfgang Lienhart to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Joris Boguo
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 words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Yanis Eisschill 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felix Köchl 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 used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kapfenberg in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wolfgang Lienhart after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Thomas Mayer
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for David Peham
Player ratingsJoe Lewis on a tightrope all afternoon
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Amstetten lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Amstetten told Moussa Cissé something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It needed Philipp Offenthaler to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Austria Salzburg, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Joe Lewis 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wolfgang Lienhart after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Nobody at Amstetten 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 dugoutDavid Peham asks for a word with the manager
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Tim Schunck takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tim Schunck provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Joe Lewis 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ivan Bradarić is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Moussa Cissé 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tim Schunck. 2‑0 against Rapid Wien II, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Wolfgang Lienhart kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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 Moussa Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Rapid Wien II in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Amstetten have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aleksandar Djordjević is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Wimmer 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.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with First Vienna the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Amstetten will enjoy reviewing.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
First Vienna left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Moussa Cissé 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.
Yanis Eisschill 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 dugout28 Sep 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 2‑3 Wolfgang Lienhart left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Matthias Gragger 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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.
12 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against First Vienna in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Amstetten lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Young Violets will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Amstetten were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amstetten, another week without a signature from Murat Şatin.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Amstetten 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.
Amstetten ran out of time with Araz-Nakhchivan. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amstetten this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zurich have kept their man, and Amstetten go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amstetten, another week without a signature from Fabian Ehmann.
12 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Amstetten training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Cissé 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Amstetten will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
The offer went to Araz-Nakhchivan 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.
“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 Amstetten, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Amstetten have done the hard part with Basel, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
First Vienna did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $260.0K for Markus Rusek, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Joe Lewis 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.
Austria Lustenau wanted more than $140.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The words a physio says slowly. 116 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.
Amstetten have gone to Austria Lustenau 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.
Joe Lewis 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.
Amstetten asked and Rapid 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.
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.
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Amstetten 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.
126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Amstetten lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ernad Kupinić did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Amstetten have done the hard part with SV Ried, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $869.7K — a club that wants Tom Hülsmann enough to be asked twice.
Amstetten asked and Altach said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 20 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.
134 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Amstetten lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Murat Şatin has just signed for Amstetten, and for once the answer mattered.
Amstetten have gone to LASK 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $135.0K — a club that wants Joris Boguo enough to be asked twice.
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and SV Ried were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Andreas Schlager 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dominik Laimer 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Amstetten lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
13 seasons and 360 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Amstetten have gone to LASK 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.
The phone has started ringing about Bernhard Scherz again, and this time the name on the line is St. Gallen. Amstetten are listening politely and promising nothing.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Wolfgang Lienhart after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.