“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 The request is on a desk at St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Andrea Adorante 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.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“I watch every St. Gallen game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Basel runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at St. Gallen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Étoile Carouge will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. St. Gallen were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Néstor Caicedo provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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. Gallen know it.
Marked 9.00 — 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Betim Fazliji, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Breel Steffen, on a 4‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Andrea Adorante was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
“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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Breel Steffen, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at St. Gallen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Étoile Carouge in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at St. Gallen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jozo Stanić signs something — a contract at St. Gallen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Aliou Baldé has written the date down.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at St. Gallen would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A side in position 2 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
In brief
BoardroomThe St. Gallen production line keeps running
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Malamine Efekele 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Breel Steffen after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ognjen Ajdar has, at St. Gallen, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
“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 St. Gallen hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Marked 6.83 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at St. Gallen can tell you which week it ends in.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
St. Gallen asked and Winterthur 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
St. Gallen ran out of time with Wil. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never 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 St. Gallen know it.
Malamine Efekele 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.
Wil left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Carlo Boukhalfa's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
St. Gallen have gone to Wil 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
St. Gallen close the window on a squad of their own making
22 in and 14 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.
The name of Néstor Caicedo has come up in conversations St. Gallen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.2M — a club that wants Tobias Raschl enough to be asked twice.
Lukas Görtler 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.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
St. Gallen asked and Cardiff City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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; St. Gallen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Stade Nyonnais had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
St. Gallen have made the call to Winterthur. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Néstor Caicedo provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 goals in one match, Néstor Caicedo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of St. Gallen and Vaduz.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lawrence Ati-Zigi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Chima Okoroji was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
9 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.
Neuchâtel Xamax will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. St. Gallen were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 9.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zenit is saying, and nobody at St. Gallen is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Malamine Efekele 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this 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 St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Malamine Efekele 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Breel Steffen after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Palermo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 St. Gallen hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo La Coruña have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.96, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Antonio Verinac was one of the reasons people came, and $1.7M does not replace that by itself.
St. Gallen asked and Grasshopper said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrea Adorante. 1‑0 against Rapperswil-Jona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
9 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.
Lukas Görtler 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.
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Albian Widmer 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jozo Stanić signs something — a contract at St. Gallen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
The name of Antonio Verinac has come up in conversations St. Gallen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
11 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mario Aebischer 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.
St. Gallen have made the call to Bohemians 1905. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Breel Steffen recited it perfectly.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at St. Gallen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Christian Schär leaves with $30.9K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
St. Gallen have made the call to Sassuolo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Christian Witzig was one of the reasons people came, and $6.2M does not replace that by itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at St. Gallen would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LASK have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Malamine Efekele 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 phone has started ringing about Jordi Quintillà again, and this time the name on the line is Bellinzona. St. Gallen are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at St. Gallen has been clear about where Enoch Owusu stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jozo Stanić signs something — a contract at St. Gallen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Christian Witzig may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Aliou Baldé’s exile
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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Andrea Adorante 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Breel Aebischer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ricardo Freuler is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation St. Gallen are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Christian Schär has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Neuchâtel Xamax waiting with a shirt. Nobody at St. Gallen is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Novi Pazar for Betim Fazliji 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at St. Gallen heard it as anything else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mihailo Stevanović and St. Gallen agree another 4 years.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mihailo Stevanović is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
9 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.
The loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at St. Gallen no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
49 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ledjan Sahitaj 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 did not go to Étoile Carouge to sit and watch. I want to come back to St. Gallen and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 41 matches say the rest.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. St. Gallen told Lukas Watkowiak something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Gallen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
SquadLukas Görtler is the talk of the training ground
The mood at St. Gallen has turned into something else
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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aliou Baldé, and the manager let it.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ledjan Sahitaj 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.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Gallen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ledjan Sahitaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at St. Gallen says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at St. Gallen the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Position 12 and 15 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether St. Gallen can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at St. Gallen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen 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 Ledjan Sahitaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
“I watch every St. Gallen game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Étoile Carouge runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Gallen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Aliou Baldé has written the date down.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Néstor Caicedo 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Lukas Görtler is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Lukas Görtler is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Gallen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and St. Gallen will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at St. Gallen would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Day 42 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luka Ayala has just signed for St. Gallen, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ledjan Sahitaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aliou Baldé trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
4 goals in 27 games at Nea Salamis — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at St. Gallen updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Position 12 and 15 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.
Christian Witzig 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Carlo Boukhalfa signs something — a contract at St. Gallen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at St. Gallen than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“I did not go to Étoile Carouge to sit and watch. I want to come back to St. Gallen and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Colin Kleine-Bekel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at St. Gallen has turned into something else
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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at St. Gallen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ledjan Sahitaj 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Gallen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
14 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen 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 Elias Lenz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at St. Gallen. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
4 goals in 24 games at Nea Salamis — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at St. Gallen updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
The dugoutLedjan Sahitaj asks for a word with the manager
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Breel Xhaka clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Position 12 and 15 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.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Philipp Rieder recited it perfectly.
“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; St. Gallen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Breel Xhaka leaves with $97.7K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Lukas Görtler has taken that personally, in the best sense, and St. Gallen are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
He is 20, and nobody at St. Gallen signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation St. Gallen are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“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. Gallen know it.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
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 bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Lukas Görtler 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Verinac and St. Gallen agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ledjan Sahitaj 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 Christian Witzig signs something — a contract at St. Gallen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at St. Gallen has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at St. Gallen would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at St. Gallen says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Christian Witzig reports back to St. Gallen with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. St. Gallen will try again when the window opens; Basel may not be selling by then.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lawrence Ati-Zigi and St. Gallen agree another 3 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitatea Craiova have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ledjan Sahitaj 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJozo Stanić loses the manager who believed in him
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
St. Gallen close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 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.
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ledjan Sahitaj 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 squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Jozo Stanić was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Christian Witzig had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Rúben Dantas Fernandes has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means St. Gallen have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
St. Gallen asked and Portsmouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. St. Gallen will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Gallen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at St. Gallen, another week without a signature from Elias Lenz.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Elias Lenz is living that version at St. Gallen, and it tends to show in the first month.
Everything agreed with another club, 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 St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. St. Gallen will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
SquadWords at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Position 12 and 15 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.
8 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.
The name of Christian Witzig has come up in conversations St. Gallen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen 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. Bari have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at St. Gallen can tell you which week it ends in.
Lukas Görtler 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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 phone has started ringing about Mihailo Stevanović again, and this time the name on the line is Sion. St. Gallen are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at St. Gallen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spezia have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The mood at St. Gallen has turned into something else
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.
Lukas Görtler 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. St. Gallen know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at St. Gallen pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Breel Xhaka after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
11 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at St. Gallen can tell you which week it ends in.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Néstor Caicedo will call it something else in private.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Basel.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Gallen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Andrin Hunziker’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and St. Gallen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at St. Gallen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Colin Kleine-Bekel is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Breel Xhaka after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mihailo Stevanović’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and St. Gallen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Wil suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to St. Gallen, and the summer will force it.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Corsin Konietzke 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 dugout30 Nov 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 Breel Xhaka left the room before anybody could ask which.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Young Boys.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Gallen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corsin Konietzke was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Breel Xhaka was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the St. Gallen dressing room was either.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Servette defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Grasshopper next, and one man in the St. Gallen dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at St. Gallen 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Gallen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Servette in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dorian Paloschi is on it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Néstor Caicedo provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Lukas Görtler 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Néstor Caicedo. 3‑1 against Winterthur, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Néstor Caicedo in the middle of it, and Winterthur unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrin Hunziker and St. Gallen agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Corsin Konietzke 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Breel Xhaka on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lukas Watkowiak: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between St. Gallen and Lugano, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Aliou Baldé 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.
9 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.
“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 St. Gallen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sion? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. St. Gallen lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” St. Gallen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corsin Konietzke was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. St. Gallen lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Antonio Verinac is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Néstor Caicedo 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 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 Aliou Baldé has written the date down.
Next up on the road: Zurich, position 8. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Carlo Boukhalfa plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
7 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.
Lukas Görtler 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at St. Gallen can tell you which week it ends in.
Lausanne-Sport left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Oct 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 0‑1 Breel Xhaka left the room before anybody could ask which.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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. Lawrence Ati-Zigi has moved up it.
6 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at St. Gallen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Corsin Konietzke was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 0‑1 Breel Xhaka left the room before anybody could ask which.
0‑3 to Basel, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dorian Paloschi 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.
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.
Ledjan Sahitaj 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.
10 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.
The dugout14 Sep 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 Breel Xhaka to a room that had heard them before.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Basel.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Blau-Weiß Linz keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at St. Gallen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Corsin Konietzke 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 St. Gallen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Corsin Konietzke has come out of that comparison in the side, and St. Gallen have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Luzern next, and one man in the St. Gallen dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Gallen can pretend not to have heard.
St. Gallen asked and Servette 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 deal with Grasshopper is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Blau-Weiß Linz 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.
A 1‑1 draw with Young Boys leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Breel Xhaka was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the St. Gallen dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ledjan Sahitaj
St. Gallen have gone to Lausanne-Sport 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 offer went to FAC Wien 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.
Red Bull Salzburg wanted more than $500.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grasshopper have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Grasshopper left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 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 0‑1 Breel Xhaka left the room before anybody could ask which.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Red Bull Salzburg 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.
Lukas Görtler 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.88, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The offer from SuperSport United for Lawrence Ati-Zigi 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $311.5K — a club that wants Marquinhos Cipriano enough to be asked twice.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michel Okafor 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edimilson Schär 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Werder Bremen have kept their man, and St. Gallen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christian Witzig and St. Gallen agree another 4 years.
The name of Betim Fazliji has come up in conversations St. Gallen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He is 21 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at St. Gallen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation St. Gallen are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.