Valletta U20

26 Sep 2027
Sunday
Process
60 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

46 days out for Desley Ubbink after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Valletta will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

The wait goes on for Valletta

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.

Squad

Real improvement from Jaxon Brown at Valletta

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jaxon Brown is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

A late step up for Jackson Mendoza

At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Manuel Morello gets picked when it counts

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 Manuel Morello is on it.

The dugout

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.” Bjorn Caruana chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

The dugout

Bruno Gomes knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Gomes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

Back issues
59 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Desley Ubbink breaks a bone — 54 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Desley Ubbink hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Real improvement from Matlahatsi Mampane at Valletta

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matlahatsi Mampane is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Match

The wait goes on for Valletta

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha

At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Desley Ubbink

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Floriana take the points off Valletta

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

58 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Desley Ubbink out for 61 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Valletta will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The dugout

Desley Ubbink: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valletta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer was unplayable

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.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 9 in, 3 out at Valletta

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Match

7 unbeaten for Valletta

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Valletta did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Musawenkosi Madonsela is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Shaft Brewer

At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Bruno Gomes at his very best

Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Valletta.

In brief

57 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

69 days out for Desley Ubbink after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Valletta will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

The dugout

Matlahatsi Mampane keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Valletta may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Alex Tanque, 33, rolls back the years — 8.83

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.83 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Real improvement from Peter Ohaka at Valletta

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Peter Ohaka is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Maringá and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Late improvement for Sebastián Viveros

At 30 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Valletta

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.

Match

6 unbeaten for Valletta

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Valletta did not have in the autumn.

In brief

56 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Desley Ubbink breaks a bone — 77 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Brandon Paiber

33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valletta lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Ryan Scicluna asks to leave Valletta

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Real improvement from Jaxon Brown at Valletta

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jaxon Brown is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Late improvement for Jackson Mendoza

At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The dugout

No hiding place for Yannick Yankam

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yannick Yankam, and the manager let it.

In brief

55 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Desley Ubbink breaks a bone — 84 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Bruno Gomes has said yes to Auckland City

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Valletta have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Squad

Brandon Paiber damages knee ligaments — 40 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Desley Ubbink hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Yannick Yankam keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Valletta may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

The step up is real for Matlahatsi Mampane

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Late improvement for Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha

At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The dugout

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

When it matters, Bruno Gomes plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

54 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Desley Ubbink breaks a bone — 91 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Brandon Paiber

47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valletta lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Auckland City watching Bruno Gomes

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Valletta have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Home is on Desley Ubbink's mind

“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; Valletta are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Real improvement from Musawenkosi Madonsela at Valletta

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Musawenkosi Madonsela is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

The dugout

No hiding place for Matlahatsi Mampane

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matlahatsi Mampane, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • The dugout Sava Radić gets picked when it counts
  • The dugout The manager comes out for Roko Prša
  • Boardroom The Valletta board put their names to it
53 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Desley Ubbink out for 98 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Valletta will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Brandon Paiber damages knee ligaments — 55 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.

Squad

Jaxon Brown signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jaxon Brown commits to Valletta for another 5 years.

Squad

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Neil Micallef

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

Ryan Scicluna is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Valletta has been clear about where Ryan Scicluna stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

52 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Desley Ubbink out for 105 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Valletta will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Maringá in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Yannick Yankam

At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Yannick Yankam

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Manuel Morello gets picked when it counts

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 Manuel Morello is on it.

In brief

51 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Desley Ubbink breaks a bone — 112 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha and Valletta agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Desley Ubbink

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Bruno Gomes has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Valletta 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.

In brief

50 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Yannick Yankam out for 106 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Valletta will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Valletta turn down Liepaja for Bruno Gomes

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Musawenkosi Madonsela puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valletta, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

A late step up for Roko Prša

At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The dugout

No hiding place for Matlahatsi Mampane

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matlahatsi Mampane, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Sava Radić gets picked when it counts

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 Sava Radić is on it.

The dugout

Desley Ubbink knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Desley Ubbink trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

A door opens for Ryan Scicluna

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.

In brief

49 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

113 days out for Yannick Yankam after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Valletta will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Neil Micallef puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valletta, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Jake Azzopardi is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Emmanuel Mbende 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 dugout

Bruno Gomes gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Boardroom

Valletta sign 6 boys into the academy

None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.

The dugout

When it matters, Maringá plays

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 dugout

Jackson Mendoza knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valletta, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

48 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Yannick Yankam breaks a bone — 120 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Desley Ubbink hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Neil Micallef: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valletta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Matteo Grech is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Late improvement for Manuel Morello

At 32 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

47 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matlahatsi Mampane is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

A late step up for Bruno Gomes

At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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 dugout

Bruno Gomes has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Valletta 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.

Market

Valletta put Desley Ubbink up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Desley Ubbink may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

Squad

Matlahatsi Mampane: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Valletta will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

In brief

46 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Desley Ubbink: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valletta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Real improvement from Jaxon Brown at Valletta

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jaxon Brown is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Roko Prša has improved at 31, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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 dugout

Matlahatsi Mampane gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Sava Radić gets picked when it counts

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 Sava Radić is on it.

The dugout

A door opens for Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha

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.

Market

Brandon Paiber’s agent stirs the pot again

“Ambitious players need ambitious projects. Draw your own conclusions.” Brandon Paiber’s representative said it with a smile, and made sure everyone wrote it down.

In brief

45 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Maringá and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Real improvement from Mattias Ellul at Valletta

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mattias Ellul is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Sebastián Viveros has improved at 30, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

No place for Desley Ubbink in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Desley Ubbink has his answer from Valletta; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Valletta

Something was said to Desley Ubbink and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

The dugout

No hiding place for Thaylor

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thaylor, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Maringá gets picked when it counts

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 Maringá is on it.

Market

Valletta put Neil Micallef up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Neil Micallef may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

44 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Maringá in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Matteo Grech is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

The dugout

Desley Ubbink gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

43 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Thaylor: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valletta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Neil Micallef gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Bruno Gomes gets picked when it counts

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 Bruno Gomes is on it.

The dugout

Desley Ubbink asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

  • Market The Bruno Gomes talk will not go away
  • Match Continental football is in reach for Valletta
42 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Emmanuel Mbende in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bruno Gomes

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Sava Radić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Valletta 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 dugout

A door opens for Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha

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.

Market

Jake Azzopardi placed on the list

Valletta have made Jake Azzopardi available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

In brief

41 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matlahatsi Mampane out for 15 days

The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Matlahatsi Mampane, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matlahatsi Mampane

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

When it matters, Maringá plays

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 dugout

Bruno Gomes asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Desley Ubbink question follows Valletta around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Desley Ubbink’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha has been promised minutes

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 Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha has written the date down.

Market

Andrea Zammit placed on the list

Valletta have made Andrea Zammit available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

Squad

The training reports on Nathan Beckett are not good

A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.

In brief

40 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Maringá wins the shoot-out

3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.

Match

The cup run ends for Valletta

0‑0 against Floriana, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Bruno Gomes

18 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

The kick that got away from Desley Ubbink

Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.

Boardroom

$452.2K on the table at Valletta

The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Matlahatsi Mampane

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 Matlahatsi Mampane.

In brief

39 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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 dugout

No hiding place for Neil Micallef

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Neil Micallef, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Bruno Gomes plays

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.

Market

The Bruno Gomes talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Valletta know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

A door opens for Desley Ubbink

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.

In brief

38 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Neil Micallef says Valletta went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Maringá 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 dugout

Sava Radić gets picked when it counts

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 Sava Radić is on it.

In brief

37 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Maringá in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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 dugout

When it matters, Sebastián Viveros plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

36 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Maringá and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Desley Ubbink

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Desley Ubbink, and the manager let it.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Neil Micallef

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Valletta told Neil Micallef something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

Alex Tanque has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Valletta 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.

Squad

Maringá loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Maringá. Valletta will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

In brief

35 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Emmanuel Mbende in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bruno Gomes

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

When it matters, Bruno Gomes plays

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.

Market

The Bruno Gomes question follows Valletta around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bruno Gomes’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Match

Continental football is in reach for Valletta

27 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

The dugout

The manager makes Ryan Scicluna a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Valletta. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

34 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Bruno Gomes: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valletta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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 dugout

No hiding place for Yannick Yankam

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yannick Yankam, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Sava Radić gets picked when it counts

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 Sava Radić is on it.

Squad

Country calls for Neil Micallef

He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Valletta lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.

In brief

33 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

No hiding place for Neil Micallef

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Neil Micallef, and the manager let it.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Jackson Mendoza

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Valletta told Jackson Mendoza something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

Sebastián Viveros has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Valletta 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 dugout

A door opens for Desley Ubbink

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.

In brief

32 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Maringá stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Maringá and Valletta agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Alex Tanque gets picked when it counts

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 Alex Tanque is on it.

Market

The Desley Ubbink question follows Valletta around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Desley Ubbink’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Neil Micallef has been promised minutes

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 Neil Micallef has written the date down.

The dugout

Nathan Beckett asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

31 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Clive Scicluna: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valletta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Alan Farrugia out for 19 days

The medical room confirms 19 days on the sidelines for Alan Farrugia, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

When it matters, Bruno Gomes plays

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.

Squad

A season on the outside for Desley Ubbink

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Valletta has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

In brief

30 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Valletta march on in the cup

Birkirkara are out and Valletta go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Cruel end for Birkirkara as Valletta pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Valletta scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Squad

Bruno Gomes is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.35 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Player ratings

Alex Tanque in the eights

A performance of 8.84 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Bruno Gomes was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.45. 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.

Squad

Nathan Beckett stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Nathan Beckett and Valletta agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Bjorn Caruana: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.

In brief

29 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Maringá in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Neil Micallef

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Desley Ubbink knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Desley Ubbink trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Yannick Yankam gets picked when it counts

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 Yannick Yankam is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes Ryan Scicluna a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Valletta. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Squad

Pierre Borg remains an outsider

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 Valletta would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

In brief

28 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Valletta count the cost of losing Maringá

14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Emmanuel Mbende 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 dugout

Desley Ubbink gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats Valletta to Vito Plut

The clock did what Sliema Wanderers would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

Squad

Joe Gbode named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Joe Gbode is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

Jamie Wähling gets picked when it counts

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 Jamie Wähling is on it.

Market

The Desley Ubbink question follows Valletta around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Desley Ubbink’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Ryan Scicluna has been promised minutes

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 Ryan Scicluna has written the date down.

In brief

27 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Thaylor asks to leave Valletta

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Boardroom

Valletta close the window on a squad of their own making

4 in and 0 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.

Transfer targets

An offer of $17.0K for Vito Plut

Valletta have gone to Sliema Wanderers 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.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Emmanuel Mbende in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Bruno Gomes gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Alan Farrugia out for 48 days

The medical room confirms 48 days on the sidelines for Alan Farrugia, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

Sebastián Viveros has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Valletta 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.

Squad

Musawenkosi Madonsela slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Musawenkosi Madonsela is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

In brief

26 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Valletta

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Mosta kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Valletta will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Match

Valletta finish in position 5

27 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Market

Jackson Mendoza hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 28. 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Bruno Gomes

18 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

The dugout

Aaron Galea: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valletta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

One of those days for Alex Tanque

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Valletta and Mosta take a point apiece

It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

In brief

  • Squad Matteo Barbara signs a new deal
  • The dugout Sava Radić has become a man the manager trusts
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
25 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Desley Ubbink says Valletta went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Player ratings

Matteo Barbara, 15, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84

A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 15-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Alex Tanque

13 goals and a season average of 7.34 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Sebastián Viveros

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Valletta find a way past Marsaxlokk

Marsaxlokk made Valletta work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

One of their own: Matteo Barbara

He is 15 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Shaft Brewer at his very best

Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Valletta.

In brief

24 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Desley Ubbink hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Neil Micallef says Valletta went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Jaxon Brown arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jaxon Brown has, at Valletta, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Maringá and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha and Valletta agree another 3 years.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Market

A long bet from Valletta on Jaxon Brown

He is 20, and nobody at Valletta signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

Market

Thaylor is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Valletta has been clear about where Thaylor stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Jaxon Brown

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 Jaxon Brown.

In brief

23 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Maringá stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Brandon Paiber hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Jaxon Brown due for a Valletta medical

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Alex Tanque

12 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Alex Tanque’s goal not enough for Valletta

Alex Tanque scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Hamrun Spartans, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Transfer targets

Gzira United tell Valletta: Gabriel Mentz is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Valletta leaking at the back

4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Thaylor for 17 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Valletta will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

In brief

  • Player ratings One of those days for Alex Tanque
  • The dugout No hiding place for Neil Micallef
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
22 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Valletta refuse to lose, and Alex Tanque leads them

The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Alex Tanque was at the centre of it, Naxxar Lions were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.

Player ratings

A brace, and Alex Tanque takes the afternoon — 9.39

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alex Tanque provided it, and the 9.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Bruno Gomes

18 goals and a season average of 7.38 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Match

Valletta find a way past Naxxar Lions

Naxxar Lions made Valletta work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Player ratings

Bruno Gomes in the eights

A performance of 8.79 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Boardroom

131% of the income goes out in wages at Valletta

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Shaft Brewer

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

21 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Both of them Bruno Gomes's — 9.24

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.24, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Bruno Gomes is carrying Valletta

17 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Bruno Gomes among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Bruno Gomes on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Valletta and Birkirkara.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Emmanuel Mbende and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Alex Tanque

Marked 8.58 — 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.

The dugout

Desley Ubbink left out for the big one

A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Desley Ubbink will call it something else in private.

Match

Valletta and Birkirkara take a point apiece

It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Yannick Yankam

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

20 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Valletta march on in the cup

Tarxien Rainbows are out and Valletta go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Valletta march on in the cup

Tarxien Rainbows are out and Valletta go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Market

Desley Ubbink asks to leave Valletta

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Bruno Gomes scores twice — 8.98

Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Home is on Desley Ubbink's mind

“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; Valletta are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Bruno Gomes is carrying Valletta

15 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

One of those days for Alex Tanque

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Tarxien Rainbows blown away early

There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Tarxien Rainbows tried to reorganise, Valletta did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.

Squad

Emmanuel Mbende makes it 200

200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

In brief

19 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Maringá damages knee ligaments — 19 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Valletta

Position 10 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Valletta come up short against Zabbar St. Patrick

Zabbar St. Patrick left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Match

Bruno Gomes among the goals in a wild afternoon

7 goals in one match, Bruno Gomes on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Valletta and Zabbar St. Patrick.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Bruno Gomes is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.20 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The dugout

No hiding place for Desley Ubbink

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Desley Ubbink, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Alex Tanque was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.55. 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.

In brief

18 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Maringá damages knee ligaments — 26 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.

Market

Neil Micallef hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Shaft Brewer

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

A bad afternoon for Valletta against Floriana

1‑2 to Floriana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Boardroom

Wages eat 130% of everything Valletta earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Diogo Tavares 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 dugout

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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Bjorn Caruana to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Thaylor gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

17 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Maringá damages knee ligaments — 34 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.

Match

Hibernians take the points off Valletta

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Emmanuel Mbende 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.

Squad

Bruno Gomes is carrying Valletta

12 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

No hiding place for Neil Micallef

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Neil Micallef, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Bjorn Caruana faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bjorn Caruana after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Valletta pick somebody else ahead of Ryan Scicluna

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

Looking ahead

The leaders are next for Valletta

Floriana top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.

In brief

16 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Maringá damages knee ligaments — 41 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.

Match

Cruel end for Sliema Wanderers as Valletta pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Valletta scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Maringá and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Valletta get the job done against Sliema Wanderers

A 1‑0 win over Sliema Wanderers, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Valletta count the cost of losing David Saliba

47 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Alex Tanque

7.90, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Valletta had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

Bjorn Caruana: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief

15 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Maringá damages knee ligaments — 48 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.

Market

Jackson Mendoza asks to leave Valletta

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Match

Bruno Gomes’s goal not enough for Valletta

Bruno Gomes scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Mosta, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Desley Ubbink

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

The pass was always on for Alex Tanque

Chances created: 13. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.

Match

The half-term report on Valletta

Position 7, 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.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Somebody else is better right now than Ryan Scicluna
  • Looking ahead A reunion for Roko Prša
14 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Maringá damages knee ligaments — 55 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Emmanuel Mbende and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Roko Prša was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 19. 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 130% of everything Valletta earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Match

Valletta caught on 91 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Marsaxlokk scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Bruno Gomes

7.89, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Valletta had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Loan watch

Andrea Zammit wants to come home

“I did not go to Sliema Wanderers to sit and watch. I want to come back to Valletta and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.

Player ratings

The afternoon ran through Alex Tanque

Chances created: 11. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.

Match

Honours even between Valletta and Marsaxlokk

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

13 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Valletta run riot against Gzira United

4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

A day Bruno Gomes will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Bruno Gomes at his very best

Marked 9.72. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Valletta.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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 ratings

Alex Tanque was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.03. 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.

Squad

12 new faces, and Valletta are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

Market

The ambition of Nathan Beckett outgrows Valletta early

Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.

The dugout

Bjorn Caruana: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief

12 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Maringá stands alone

11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Bruno Gomes scores twice — 8.96

Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Match

Valletta rescue it on 88 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Hamrun Spartans had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Diogo Tavares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Bruno Gomes rescues a point for Valletta

It needed Bruno Gomes to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Hamrun Spartans, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

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.” Bjorn Caruana chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Yuri Messias

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

11 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Valletta come up short against Naxxar Lions

Naxxar Lions left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

No hiding place for Desley Ubbink

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Desley Ubbink, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Valletta

Diogo Tavares 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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Bjorn Caruana left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Jamie Wähling

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Valletta told Jamie Wähling something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Ryan Scicluna

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.

Looking ahead

Roko Prša faces his old club

Hamrun Spartans next, and one man in the Valletta dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

Market

The Bruno Gomes question follows Valletta around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bruno Gomes’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

10 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Bruno Gomes scores twice — 8.83

Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Ryan Scicluna signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ryan Scicluna commits to Valletta for another 2 years.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Player ratings

Shaft Brewer beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Emmanuel Mbende and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 168% of the Valletta income

Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Maringá

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Valletta had all but put away. Birkirkara will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Match

Bruno Gomes rescues a point for Valletta

It needed Bruno Gomes to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Birkirkara, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

  • Player ratings The cruellest goal, and it is Thaylor's
  • Squad Joe Gbode makes the team of the month
  • The dugout Bjorn Caruana: “We have to be better”
9 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Both of them Alex Tanque's — 8.92

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.92, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Maringá in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Matteo Grech at Valletta

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Grech is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Match

Valletta see off Tarxien Rainbows

Three points for Valletta, 3‑1 the final word against Tarxien Rainbows in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Player ratings

Bruno Gomes in the eights

A performance of 8.58 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

11 new faces, and Valletta are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout

A satisfied Bjorn Caruana

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Bjorn Caruana could afford to be generous.

The dugout

Thaylor gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

8 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

4 matches without a win for Valletta

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Valletta are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Valletta

Maringá and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Valletta against Zabbar St. Patrick

1‑2 to Zabbar St. Patrick, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Bjorn Caruana left the room before anybody could ask which.

Squad

Pierre Borg stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Pierre Borg and Valletta agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Diogo Tavares gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Roko Prša

Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Bruno Gomes scores his first for Valletta

The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.

Squad

Desley Ubbink still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Valletta would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

In brief

7 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Maringá keeps Valletta in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Emmanuel Mbende in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Valletta rescue it on 95 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Floriana had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

Squad

This league is too small for Desley Ubbink

He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Valletta will not keep him by pretending otherwise.

Loan watch

Jake Azzopardi has seen enough of Floriana

“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 Valletta, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.

Match

Honours even between Valletta and Floriana

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

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.” Bjorn Caruana chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.

Market

Valletta bring in an old head

Desley Ubbink is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.

In brief

6 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Window shuts: 17 in, 3 out at Valletta

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Bruno Gomes 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.

Match

Valletta and Hibernians take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Bjorn Caruana on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bjorn Caruana after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Looking ahead

Valletta take on the side everybody is chasing

Floriana arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

Squad

Jamie Wähling: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Valletta will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

Player ratings

Jamie Wähling beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Valletta have started building around Jamie Wähling

He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.

Looking ahead

Brandon Paiber goes back to face Floriana

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Brandon Paiber’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Valletta needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

5 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Maringá stands alone

10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Shaft Brewer

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Boardroom

1 academy graduates step up at Valletta

Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Gabriel Mentz

Valletta asked and Gzira United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Valletta sell Julani Archibald for $9.0K

Julani Archibald has left for Tarxien Rainbows in a $9.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Market

Valletta promote Christian Chetcuti from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Christian Chetcuti 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.

Squad

200 appearances for Maringá

200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

Squad

Diogo Tavares in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Valletta are still strangers to each other

10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

In brief

4 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

No deal for Chukwuemeka Junior Eke at that price

Valletta offered $86.0K; Mosta said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

Bruno Gomes falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Transfer targets

Valletta rebuffed over Ryan Leonard

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Millwall have kept their man, and Valletta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Aaron Galea stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Aaron Galea and Valletta agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Aaron Galea in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Brandon Paiber told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Brandon Paiber has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Valletta.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Roko Prša

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sliema Wanderers in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Aaron Galea

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Roko Prša has company in his position

The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Roko Prša keeps the shirt for now, at Valletta's convenience rather than his own.

In brief

3 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Jurgen Pisani turns down Valletta

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.

Transfer targets

Valletta make their move for Chukwuemeka Junior Eke

$33.0K on the table at Mosta. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Words at Valletta training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

Hibernians tell Valletta: Kurt Shaw is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Emmanuel Mbende in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Yuri Messias pulls a muscle — 14 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Market

Still no ink between Valletta and Sebastián Viveros

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Valletta, another week without a signature from Sebastián Viveros.

Transfer targets

Valletta try to borrow Joe Gbode

Luton 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.

The dugout

Mattias Ellul gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

2 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Hibernians come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Valletta did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Maringá in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Valletta rebuffed over Basil Tuma

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Reading have kept their man, and Valletta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Clive Scicluna steps up from the Valletta academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Clive Scicluna 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.

Market

Rafael Brincat steps up from the Valletta academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rafael Brincat 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.

Market

One of our own: David Saliba joins the Valletta first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. David Saliba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

1 Edition

The Valletta Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Julani Archibald puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valletta, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Roko Prša signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roko Prša and Valletta agree another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Valletta

Maringá 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Valletta

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Barnet tell Valletta: Kabongo Tshimanga is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Talks stall between Valletta and Maringá

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

In brief