Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Grasshopper is running low.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grasshopper, and 3 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Nov 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.
Nikolas Muci 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.80, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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.
17 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.
Hassane Imourane 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 Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 11, 8 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.
Something was said to Allan Arigoni and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grasshopper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Cedric Gavranovic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Grasshopper dressing room was either.
The mood at Grasshopper 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grasshopper can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grasshopper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Samuel Giovane 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 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 Grasshopper know it.
Something was said to Mihajlo Ilić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stade Lausanne-Ouchy runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mihajlo Ilić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tobias Müller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Tobias Müller
The dugoutSimone Stroscio has become a man the manager trusts
1 for Mihajlo Ilić, marked 7.38, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.
7 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Cedric Gavranovic after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Grasshopper told Henri Koide something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
0‑3 to Lugano, 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 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.
Lee Young-Jun 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.
100 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.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout20 Sep 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 0‑3 Cedric Gavranovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
The mood at Grasshopper 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.
Position 11 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Grasshopper will try again when the window opens; Sporting Cristal may not be selling by then.
“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 Grasshopper, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Grasshopper and Sporting Cristal have settled on $7.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Grasshopper, and it is not being withdrawn.
Grasshopper ran out of time with Stripfing. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Grasshopper close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 15 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.
Nikolas Muci and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tobias Müller 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 did not go to Stade Lausanne-Ouchy to sit and watch. I want to come back to Grasshopper and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 8 matches say the rest.
12 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 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.
0‑3 against Young Boys, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 Grasshopper, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nikolas Muci 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tobias Müller 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 name of Yannick Bettkober has come up in conversations Grasshopper were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Grasshopper, and it is not being withdrawn.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Justin Hammel: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Nikolas Muci 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 Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cittadella have kept their man, and Grasshopper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The mood at Grasshopper 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.
The offer went to Blau-Weiß Linz 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.
Grasshopper asked and Aarau 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 Grasshopper 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 Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Grasshopper can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Grasshopper have gone to Aarau 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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lee Young-Jun and Grasshopper agree another 4 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 is going to Basel, the club has $1.0M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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 Grasshopper, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lee Young-Jun 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lee Young-Jun has his answer from Grasshopper; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grasshopper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Grasshopper have done the hard part with Aarau, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Red Bull Salzburg keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Grasshopper asked and Bohemians 1905 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 phone has started ringing about Bujar Pllana again, and this time the name on the line is Basel. Grasshopper are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
“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 Grasshopper, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Grasshopper have done the hard part with Red Bull Salzburg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kevin Kobel 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mario Shaqiri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Grasshopper have gone to Basel 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.
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: Yevgen Morozov from Zurich for $790.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Grasshopper asked and Vicenza 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 nobody at Grasshopper signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
VfL Wolfsburg 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Grasshopper has been clear about where Nicolas Glaus stands, which is more than many ever get.
Position 10 and 20 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.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“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; Djibril Embolo recited it perfectly.
Zurich have accepted the money. What Grasshopper do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Nikolas Muci 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Tobias Müller 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.
“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; Grasshopper are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Grasshopper, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.
Grasshopper asked and Monza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Vicenza 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
5 new faces, and Grasshopper 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grasshopper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Julian von Moos has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Allan Arigoni 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.
Grasshopper 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.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Grasshopper would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Grasshopper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Grasshopper asked and St. Gallen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Allan Arigoni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Grasshopper are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Position 10 and 20 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Étoile Carouge have kept their man, and Grasshopper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Grasshopper have done the hard part with Lugano, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lee Young-Jun 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luka Mikulić has his answer from Grasshopper; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grasshopper, another week without a signature from Tobias Müller.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Leart Kabashi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Luca Lipani is in the works
Tobias Müller and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Ismajl Beka 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.
6 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grasshopper 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 Yannick Bettkober trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grasshopper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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 Grasshopper would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grasshopper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Nikolas Muci 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 Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rapperswil-Jona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Justin Hammel is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grasshopper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Mergim Qarri has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Julian von Moos signs something — a contract at Grasshopper or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 10, 20 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad10 May 2027
Tobias Müller 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grasshopper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Grasshopper is running low.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Grasshopper can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stade Nyonnais runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Maximilian Ullmann's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grasshopper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Salifou Diarrassouba and Grasshopper agree another 3 years.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tobias Müller 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lugano runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grasshopper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grasshopper, and 11 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Justin Hammel is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grasshopper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hassane Imourane and Grasshopper agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nikolas Muci 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 Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Servette runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grasshopper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
3 goals in 11 games at Rapperswil-Jona — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Grasshopper updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nikolas Muci 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 Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Grasshopper is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“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; Grasshopper are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grasshopper, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hassane Imourane trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The money the manager was told he had is now money the manager used to have. $11.2M, gone from the table without a statement, and a dressing room that understands what it means.
The mood at Grasshopper 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grasshopper, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Mergim Qarri has written the date down.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 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 Justin Hammel is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grasshopper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 10 and 20 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Grasshopper are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salifou Diarrassouba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grasshopper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Mergim Qarri a promise
“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; Grasshopper are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grasshopper, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Market8 Mar 2027
Nicolas Glaus returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kevin Bua trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Bujar Pllana a promise
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 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 Grasshopper know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Allan Arigoni 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grasshopper, another week without a signature from Tobias Müller.
“I watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lugano runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 0 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at Grasshopper argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 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 Justin Hammel is on it.
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 Mergim Qarri has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grasshopper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 10 and 20 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.
Nikolas Muci 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tobias Müller 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 Allan Arigoni trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grasshopper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Grasshopper would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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 Mergim Qarri has written the date down.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grasshopper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nikolas Muci 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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. Genoa have kept their man, and Grasshopper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Grasshopper has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grasshopper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 36, with 428 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Amir Abrashi is still in the building
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.
Everything was agreed with Stade Lausanne-Ouchy and then the doctor spoke. Grasshopper have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spezia have kept their man, and Grasshopper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grasshopper, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Grasshopper can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Central Córdoba SdE 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Stade Lausanne-Ouchy; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Basel for Luka Mikulić 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tobias Müller 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.
Grasshopper asked and Modena 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grasshopper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Zurich paid $650.0K and Grasshopper took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tobias Müller 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.
Lee Young-Jun 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grasshopper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grasshopper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Grasshopper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Spezia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tobias Müller 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.
Grasshopper asked and Genoa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Simone Stroscio 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 is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Grasshopper are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grasshopper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 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 deal with Spezia 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.
Tobias Müller 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.
14 combined actions and 6.81. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Karlsruher SC have kept their man, and Grasshopper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Grasshopper know it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grasshopper, another week without a signature from Tobias Müller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kerim Alajbegović is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tobias Müller 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 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.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zurich in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Position 10 and 19 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.
Nikolas Muci 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.
“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 dugout21 Dec 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 Steven Comert left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Allan Arigoni commits to Grasshopper for another 4 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.” Steven Comert after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Salifou Diarrassouba will call it something else in private.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Grasshopper have no good answer.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Leart Kabashi’s exile
Player ratingsLuke Plange beats them one at a time
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Grasshopper 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.
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Steven Comert to a room that had heard them before.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Nikolas Muci
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Nikolas Muci has come out of that comparison in the side, and Grasshopper have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ismajl Beka has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper 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 Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikolas Muci. 2‑1 against St. Gallen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Grasshopper know it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Steven Comert on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Grasshopper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Nikolas Muci has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
A brace, and Nikolas Muci takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikolas Muci provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikolas Muci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bujar Pllana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 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.” Steven Comert chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutHugo Benítez dropped after a run of poor form
Nikolas Muci 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
Tobias Müller 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 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simone Stroscio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Grasshopper are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Justin Hammel'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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Justin Hammel knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout9 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Steven Comert to a room that had heard them before.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper 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 Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grasshopper, another week without a signature from Tobias Müller.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Samuel Marques has come out of that comparison in the side, and Grasshopper have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutJustin Hammel has become a man the manager trusts
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 9, 14 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lugano runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Amir Abrashi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Grasshopper needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Luke Plange 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Grasshopper is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Sion scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
12 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.
“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.
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.
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.
“I watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at St. Gallen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grasshopper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Sion next, and one man in the Grasshopper dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Julian von Moos signs something — a contract at Grasshopper or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Grasshopper would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Julian von Moos has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“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 Grasshopper know it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Steven Comert after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kerim Alajbegović is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Kerim Alajbegović 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.
A 1‑0 win over Lausanne-Sport, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismajl Beka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Grasshopper has been clear about where Luke Plange stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nikolas Muci 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
Tobias Müller 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Steven Comert after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
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 Grasshopper would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hugo Benítez is living that version at Grasshopper, and it tends to show in the first month.
Nikolas Muci and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 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 0‑3 Steven Comert left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Grasshopper can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Grasshopper close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 8 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: SV Elversberg 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 Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Allan Arigoni 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Abdoulaye Diaby is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tobias Müller 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. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Grasshopper 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. Hassane Imourane 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Abdoulaye Diaby was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
SV Elversberg 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zurich have kept their man, and Grasshopper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from St. Pauli for Leart Kabashi 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Müller 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.
Lee Young-Jun 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
10 new faces, and Grasshopper 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.
The offer from Basel for Nikolas Muci 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.
Grasshopper have gone to Zurich with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Grasshopper asked and Yverdon 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hertha BSC keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Tobias Müller 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.
Lausanne-Sport pay $760.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Grasshopper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tobias Müller is living that version at Grasshopper, and it tends to show in the first month.
Grasshopper asked and Universitario 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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Tim Meyer was one of the reasons people came, and $1.2M does not replace that by itself.
The name of Nikolas Muci has come up in conversations Grasshopper were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Grasshopper have done the hard part with Hertha BSC, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Michaël Frey 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.
Grasshopper asked and Holstein Kiel 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 phone has started ringing about Nicolas Glaus again, and this time the name on the line is Rapperswil-Jona. Grasshopper are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismajl Beka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“The 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Linus Gechter is in the works