From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 May 2027
The mood at Hertha Wels 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.
Boardroom17 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Hertha Wels
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad17 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kilian Schröcker
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hertha Wels lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 May 2027
Hertha Wels are in real trouble now
Position 15, 19 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Kévin Boma 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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Tolgahan Sahin
“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.
Market17 May 2027
Hertha Wels have let the market know Sebastian Feyrer can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad17 May 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Hertha Wels will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
Kilian Schröcker damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad10 May 2027
Kévin Boma 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.
Boardroom10 May 2027
The numbers do not look good at Hertha Wels
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Hertha Wels training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Feyrer 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 dugout10 May 2027
Andrija Bošnjak has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Hertha Wels will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes Moisés a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hertha Wels. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hertha Wels lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom3 May 2027
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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Kévin Boma 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.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I did not go to Austria Lustenau to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hertha Wels and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
The dugout3 May 2027
João Luiz without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. João Luiz was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout3 May 2027
Albin Gashi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad3 May 2027
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. Faroukou Cissé has moved up it.
Squad3 May 2027
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 38, with 2 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
Kilian Schröcker damages knee ligaments — 58 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market26 Apr 2027
“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 Hertha Wels, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tolga Günes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hertha Wels this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Kévin Boma 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Wages swallow 91% of the Hertha Wels income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Moisés gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the Hertha Wels board
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hertha Wels lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Hertha Wels
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hertha Wels is running low.
Match19 Apr 2027
Hertha Wels are in real trouble now
Position 15, 19 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tolga Günes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hertha Wels this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Hertha Wels training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kévin Boma 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Luan
“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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hertha Wels, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kilian Schröcker
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hertha Wels lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Fynn Lakenmacher and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tolga Günes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Austria Salzburg to sit and watch. I want to come back to Hertha Wels and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Too much change too quickly at Hertha Wels
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
João Luiz knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hertha Wels, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
83 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hertha Wels lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Lukas Ulmer has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
João Luiz keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hertha Wels may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kelvin Neijenhuis is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hertha Wels this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kévin Boma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
“I watch every Hertha Wels game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Austria Lustenau runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Kévin Boma without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Kévin Boma was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Albin Gashi
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kilian Schröcker
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hertha Wels lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market29 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hertha Wels can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Hertha Wels training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kévin Boma 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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
Wages swallow 102% of the Hertha Wels income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
A promise honoured for Kévin Boma
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hertha Wels told Kévin Boma something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Patrik Hanák gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Felix Nachbagauer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The mood at Hertha Wels 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hertha Wels lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Hertha Wels
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match22 Mar 2027
19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Dominik Schön out for 20 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hertha Wels will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Kévin Boma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
Kilian Schröcker damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Dominik Schön out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hertha Wels will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Silas Ostrzinski is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tolga Günes 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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Michael Brugger
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Lukas Ulmer has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Dominik Schön breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kelvin Neijenhuis is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Scherzer and Hertha Wels agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match6 Mar 2027
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tolga Günes 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager's exit leaves João Luiz exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. João Luiz is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Mar 2027
46 days out for Dominik Schön after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hertha Wels will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tolga Günes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for Hertha Wels
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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
In brief
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Boardroom
97% of the income goes out in wages at Hertha Wels
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Squad
Manuel Thurnwald falls out with a teammate over standards
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Feb 2027
Supporters organise against the Hertha Wels board
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.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Hertha Wels
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match22 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Hertha Wels
Position 14 and 18 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Dominik Schön out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hertha Wels will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kévin Boma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Feb 2027
11 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
61 days out for Dominik Schön after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hertha Wels will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Fynn Lakenmacher and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Kévin Boma 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kelvin Neijenhuis, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Hertha Wels
8 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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.” Lukas Ulmer chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Dominik Schön out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hertha Wels will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hertha Wels this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Jenson Jones gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jenson Jones has just signed for Hertha Wels, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kévin Boma 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Hertha Wels asked and Amstetten 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
Kévin Boma gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match6 Feb 2027
Hertha Wels rescue it on 94 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Feb 2027
75 days out for Dominik Schön after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hertha Wels will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hertha Wels can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and Hertha Wels did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Hertha Wels close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 6 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Noan Géraux arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Noan Géraux has, at Hertha Wels, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Fynn Lakenmacher was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Kévin Boma 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hartberg have kept their man, and Hertha Wels go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Hertha Wels board
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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Pressure builds in the Hertha Wels boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match25 Jan 2027
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Dominik Schön breaks a bone — 84 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match23 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hertha Wels have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Hertha Wels, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
92 days out for Dominik Schön after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hertha Wels will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer from Lokomotiv Plovdiv for Marek Švec 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Hertha Wels — 7.31
1 for Matthijs van Nispen, marked 7.31, 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The deal with Red Bull Salzburg 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tolga Günes 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Hertha Wels asked and SV Ried said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
Dominik Schön breaks a bone — 100 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match9 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Kelvin Neijenhuis is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Hertha Wels had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Altach, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tolga Günes 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Hertha Wels training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Scherzer 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Altach have kept their man, and Hertha Wels go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match9 Jan 2027
0‑1 to FC Liefering, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
109 days out for Dominik Schön after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hertha Wels will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market4 Jan 2027
Luan puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hertha Wels, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match2 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Luan wants to go home
“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 Hertha Wels know it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hartberg have kept their man, and Hertha Wels go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Hertha Wels board
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Dominik Schön breaks a bone — 117 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match28 Dec 2026
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Pressure builds in the Hertha Wels boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match26 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Hertha Wels
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Hertha Wels are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 149% of everything Hertha Wels earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Dominik Schön out for 124 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hertha Wels will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Fynn Lakenmacher and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 7.89. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Sebastian Feyrer 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Amstetten leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Lukas Ulmer was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Hertha Wels dressing room was either.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kilian Schröcker, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tolga Günes’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hertha Wels needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
132 days out for Dominik Schön after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hertha Wels will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kelvin Neijenhuis is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hertha Wels this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Too much change too quickly at Hertha Wels
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Andrija Bošnjak has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Hertha Wels 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Austria Klagenfurt left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sebastian Feyrer and Hertha Wels agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“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 Hertha Wels know it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Lukas Ulmer to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Karim Conté gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Nov 2026
Anger at Hertha Wels spills outside the ground
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.
Match30 Nov 2026
Hertha Wels are in real trouble now
Position 15, 11 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Fynn Lakenmacher takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fynn Lakenmacher provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Hertha Wels
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 28, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Sékou Sylla: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hertha Wels have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tolga Günes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hertha Wels this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hertha Wels will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Nov 2026
The drought breaks for Hertha Wels
12 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Sturm Graz II were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tolga Günes 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Moisés pulls a muscle — 18 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.92 on the card, and the Hertha Wels support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Lukas Ulmer could afford to be generous.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sékou Sylla 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hertha Wels will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hertha Wels may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tolga Günes 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
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Feyrer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
A reunion for Luan
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sturm Graz II in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Patrik Hanák gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Patrik Hanák has just signed for Hertha Wels, and for once the answer mattered.
Match7 Nov 2026
3 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
St. Pölten left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Hertha Wels training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Conté 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Hertha Wels are still strangers to each other
8 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Patrik Hanák is 19, and Hertha Wels have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Hertha Wels spills outside the ground
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Match2 Nov 2026
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Hertha Wels
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 154% of the Hertha Wels income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Hertha Wels
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Hertha Wels are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Fynn Lakenmacher and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 22 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Feyrer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Half-satisfied: Lukas Ulmer on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sékou Sylla, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Hertha Wels?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Kapfenberg? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hertha Wels this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Hertha Wels training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Feyrer 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lukas Ulmer after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kelvin Neijenhuis is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tolga Günes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andreas Radics and Hertha Wels agree another 3 years.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Hertha Wels are still strangers to each other
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Paul Gobara gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces5 Oct 2026
Anger at Hertha Wels spills outside the ground
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
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.
Match5 Oct 2026
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Silas Ostrzinski is a better footballer than he was
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tolga Günes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hertha Wels this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dru Yearwood and Hertha Wels agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Hertha Wels
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tolga Günes 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Stripfing, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Conté was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 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 Lukas Ulmer to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karim Conté, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Austria Salzburg in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Hertha Wels
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Hertha Wels are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tolga Günes 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑2 to Rapid Wien II, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Silas Ostrzinski, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lukas Ulmer after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Stripfing next, and one man in the Hertha Wels dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Hertha Wels's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hertha Wels has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Josip Eškinja delivers — 7.44
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Josip Eškinja scored, was marked 7.44, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Hertha Wels rescue it on 89 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. FC Liefering had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sebastian Feyrer 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Hertha Wels 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Luca Tischler hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hertha Wels can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed with Grazer AK and then the doctor spoke. Hertha Wels have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 19 in, 0 out at Hertha Wels
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Fynn Lakenmacher 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kelvin Neijenhuis is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Karviná have kept their man, and Hertha Wels go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Hertha Wels know which stage they are at.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Sebastian Feyrer 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Hertha Wels now.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
$6.3M. No player has ever cost Hertha Wels more, and expectation arrives with him.
Match26 Aug 2026
The small margins put Hertha Wels out
Out, 1‑2 to St. Pölten, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Hertha Wels and Grazer AK have settled on $98.0K. 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Karim Conté goes up and wins it — 7.72
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.72 for the rest of it.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $111.2K — a club that wants Christoph Nicht enough to be asked twice.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Hertha Wels
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Hertha Wels are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tolga Günes 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Hertha Wels have gone to Darmstadt 98 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Luan puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hertha Wels, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Luzern have kept their man, and Hertha Wels go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Rapid Wien wanted more than $930.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tolga Günes 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑2 to FAC Wien, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Hertha Wels training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Feyrer 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Hertha Wels have gone to Rapid Wien 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tolga Günes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
Amstetten left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Renato Embolo is in the works
Hertha Wels have made the call to Luzern. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Hertha Wels
6 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Hertha Wels training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Conté 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$2.0M on the table at Rapid Wien. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Rapid 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.4M — a club that wants Petter Nosa Dahl enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tolga Günes 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Hertha Wels asked and Grazer AK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stefan Kalajdzic 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michael Lainer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andreas Trimmel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
An offer of $830.0K for Yusuf Demir
Hertha Wels have gone to Rapid Wien 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tolga Günes and Hertha Wels agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tolga Günes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hertha Wels this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Lukas Ulmer left the room before anybody could ask which.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Hertha Wels have made the call to Borussia Dortmund. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.