Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sturm Graz and Grodig in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Seedy Jatta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Seedy Jatta 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.
5 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.
Seedy Jatta 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 Albert Vallci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Seedy Jatta. 2‑1 against Rapid Wien, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match17 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Sturm Graz. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Marked 7.13 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Patrick Schlager, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutAxel Kayombo is still being punished for one mistake
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Philipp Wiesinger 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Heinz Arnautovic 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. Markus Ilsanker has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Gizo Mamageishvili decided nobody was going anywhere. Altach had no time left to answer.
Philipp Wiesinger 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 Seedy Jatta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gizo Mamageishvili 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.
8.08. 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.
8.01. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Albert Vallci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 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.
Position 5, 12 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dejan Arnautovic and Sturm Graz agree another 3 years.
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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Leon Grgić, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Jon Gorenc Stankovič and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Albert Vallci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Leon Grgić 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 dugout21 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.” Patrick Schlager kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petar Petrović, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Nils Miatke
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.
A 0‑3 beating by Austria Wien was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Seedy Jatta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Millwall have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dejan Arnautovic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lukas Fuchs is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Grodig runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Benjamin Leneis had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Sturm Graz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nelson Weiper was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sturm Graz, another week without a signature from Philipp Wiesinger.
Sturm Graz asked and Austria Wien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Seedy Jatta 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 phone has started ringing about Daniil Khudyakov again, and this time the name on the line is Rapid Wien. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petar Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Patrick Schlager to a room that had heard them before.
Two goals and a mark of 9.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mattersburg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
“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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$4.0M was the most the club would pay and Austria Wien were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Red Bull Salzburg pay $1.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Albert Vallci 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 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sturm Graz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Sturm Graz have gone to Austria 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.
Rapid Wien have accepted the money. What Sturm Graz do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Philipp Wiesinger has, at Sturm Graz, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Seedy Jatta 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 offer from FC Metz for Seedy Jatta 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Martin Ádám has just signed for Sturm Graz, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jon Gorenc Stankovič commits to Sturm Graz for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Otar Kiteishvili 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.
Rory Wilson 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.