41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dejan Đurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kenneth Bugeja after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 6.19 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo 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.
Marked 7.45 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Valletta kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Sliema Wanderers will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Up for the corner, and Teddy Teuma delivers — 7.68
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Teddy Teuma scored, was marked 7.68, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Nikos Karelis 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 had been thinking. Paulo Júnior 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 3‑3, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emeka Kelvin Agu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nikos Karelis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Teddy Teuma. 2‑0 against Balzan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mlindelwa Nyanisa and Sliema Wanderers agree another 4 years.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matteo Lorenzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo 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 Sliema Wanderers has been clear about where Hunter Olson stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Gustavo Lira is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Lira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Neil Frendo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sliema Wanderers needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mlindelwa Nyanisa did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 17 combined actions and a mark of 7.31, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikos Karelis and Sliema Wanderers agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Allef 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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 Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 combined actions and 7.21. 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“I 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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Kenneth Bugeja could afford to be generous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nikos Karelis 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.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at Sliema Wanderers saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Hibernians held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Sliema Wanderers answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matteo Lorenzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Lira 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.
Paulo Júnior 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Neil Frendo and Sliema Wanderers agree another 3 years.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sliema Wanderers people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Sliema Wanderers close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 12 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 instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo 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.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Mosta kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Sliema Wanderers will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sliema Wanderers people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adam Magri Overend will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Zebbug Rangers moved on, Fernandinho reports back to Sliema Wanderers, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Nikos Karelis 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.
In brief
Boardroom5 academy players handed senior numbers at Sliema Wanderers
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Teddy Teuma 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 name of Matteo Lorenzi has come up in conversations Sliema Wanderers were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Júnior was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers 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.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sliema Wanderers people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Zurrieq will make the call about Matteo Lorenzi this week. Sliema Wanderers have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers 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.
37 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Jean Borg is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Fernandinho
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sliema Wanderers people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The name of Adam Magri Overend has come up in conversations Sliema Wanderers were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers 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 Allef was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sliema Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sliema Wanderers people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nikos Karelis 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 had been thinking. Gustavo 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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sliema Wanderers has been clear about where Luke Montebello stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Matteo Lorenzi reports back to Sliema Wanderers with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sliema Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paulo Júnior will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Paulo Júnior has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sliema Wanderers know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hibernians have kept their man, and Sliema Wanderers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Sliema Wanderers know now that the thought has arrived.
Sliema Wanderers have made the call to Hibernians. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wescley will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Teddy Teuma was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Paulo Júnior 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 Allef was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sliema Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sliema Wanderers people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Add another name to the list: Vittoriosa Stars have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matteo Lorenzi. The answer from Sliema Wanderers has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dejan Đurić 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.
Something was said to Paulo Júnior and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutGustavo Lira has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutGustavo Lira asks for a word with the manager
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sliema Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Hunter Olson 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 Paulo Júnior was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
5 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 words a physio says slowly. 89 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sliema Wanderers people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
Nikos Karelis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” João Vitor and Sliema Wanderers agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mohamed Awad has his answer from Sliema Wanderers; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Nikos Karelis 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 Dejan Đurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A 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 Hunter Olson has written the date down.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sliema Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luke Montebello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Júnior 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sliema Wanderers. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikolai Micallef trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sliema Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Allef 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 club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers 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 Dejan Đurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Lira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Marcelo is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sliema Wanderers 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 Sliema Wanderers would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Sliema Wanderers will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Nikos Karelis 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 Paulo Júnior was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers 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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Adam Magri Overend may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Allef is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paulo Júnior trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Allef 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 club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Karelis signs something — a contract at Sliema Wanderers or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4, 37 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nikos Karelis 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Paulo Júnior 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.
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 Marcelo is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sliema Wanderers. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luke Montebello trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
Nikos Karelis 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Sliema Wanderers is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Allef was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vito Plut trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at Sliema Wanderers saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Dejan Đurić 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.
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 Gustavo Lira 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 Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sliema Wanderers know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Hunter Olson 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.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Paulo Júnior 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Lira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wescley will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Allef was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Sliema Wanderers know now that the thought has arrived.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikos Karelis and Sliema Wanderers agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Teddy Teuma 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.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kenneth Bugeja after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutLuke Montebello has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sliema Wanderers have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Sliema Wanderers now know that too.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Júnior was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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.
“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; Sliema Wanderers are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Jean Borg is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikos Karelis signs something — a contract at Sliema Wanderers or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 37 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sliema Wanderers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Nikos Karelis 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
A 1‑0 win over Tarxien Rainbows, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Hunter Olson.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dejan Đurić 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.
Zabbar St. Patrick will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Sliema Wanderers were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.29 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Teddy Teuma was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sliema Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luke Montebello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sliema Wanderers the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Sliema Wanderers until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Sliema Wanderers asked and Tarxien Rainbows 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 Mohamed Awad again, and this time the name on the line is Zurrieq. Sliema Wanderers are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Lira 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.
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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Gustavo Lira was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sirens waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Júnior was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.66, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sliema Wanderers people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Nikos Karelis 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.
“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; Sliema Wanderers are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Everybody at Sliema Wanderers saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Sliema Wanderers game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zurrieq runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Sliema Wanderers will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Adam Magri Overend has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sliema Wanderers can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Paulo Júnior 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Teddy Teuma 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 Allef was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Kenneth Bugeja chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Hamrun Spartans? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Allef 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 dugout14 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 0‑1 Kenneth Bugeja left the room before anybody could ask which.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Hamrun Spartans.
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 Gustavo Lira is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hamrun Spartans in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sliema Wanderers know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Júnior 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Brian Gambarte was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Teddy Teuma
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Teddy Teuma has come out of that comparison in the side, and Sliema Wanderers have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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.
Position 3, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sliema Wanderers have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
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.
A 2‑0 win over Tarxien Rainbows, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Sliema Wanderers will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Allef was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.99 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nikos Karelis 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Sliema Wanderers. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A 2‑1 win over Zabbar St. Patrick, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 6.82 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Lucca Moscatello 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Paulo Júnior is living that version at Sliema Wanderers, and it tends to show in the first month.
Nikos Karelis 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 had been thinking. Paulo Júnior 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sliema Wanderers can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Zabbar St. Patrick.
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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 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.
Position 3, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Sliema Wanderers. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Marked 7.40 on 18 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hibernians in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kenneth Bugeja after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mohamed Awad
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Mosta? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Birkirkara next, and one man in the Sliema Wanderers dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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 Mosta in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, 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 Mohamed Awad 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.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
A brace, and Gustavo Lira takes the afternoon — 8.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gustavo Lira provided it, and the 8.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Sliema Wanderers know it.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Lira 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.
Fernandinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. 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.
Nikos Karelis 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 Luke Montebello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Gzira United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Marsaxlokk in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nikos Karelis 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikolai Micallef and Sliema Wanderers agree another 3 years.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mohamed Awad
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Steve Pisani’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sliema Wanderers needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sliema Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Sliema Wanderers asked and Bromley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke Montebello 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Kenneth Bugeja kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Sliema Wanderers know which stage they are at.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Sliema Wanderers asked and Floriana 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 easiest signature of my career.” Gustavo Lira and Sliema Wanderers agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luke Montebello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kaique is 20, and Sliema Wanderers 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.
Naxxar Lions next, and one man in the Sliema Wanderers 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 Nikos Karelis signs something — a contract at Sliema Wanderers or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sliema Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alfred Mercieca is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martin Psaila has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rafael Pisani 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.
100 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kenneth Bugeja after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luke Montebello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mansfield Town 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Henry Bonello’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sliema Wanderers needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Sliema Wanderers asked and Barrow AFC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke Montebello 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 trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Sliema Wanderers has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nikos Karelis 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo City have kept their man, and Sliema Wanderers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sliema Wanderers would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Teddy Teuma and Sliema Wanderers agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“75 caps was 75 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 37 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from Sliema Wanderers.