Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1544245
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 APRIL 2026 FEATURE and politicians fell for it ilar lines had surfaced publicly. Meanwhile, tenor Joseph Calleja messaged to say that the Concreteologist was the only "fake account" he followed, be- cause it was so funny. 'Thank you, Mr Presidente' Then came Nocerina—an unknown Italian football club that was in search of a new president. When news broke that Portelli might purchase the Italian football club, the ac- count was flooded with Italian followers and private messages. Fans addressing him as "presi- dent" and writing that they had been waiting for him; that he was going to save them. When the deal collapsed, the tone shifted fast. Van Schaik said he already knew some- thing had gone wrong be- fore it even made the Maltese press because the messages had turned bleak days earlier. Internally, among Nocerina's fanbase, something had clearly soured. He had also, at some point, re- ceived an official message from the club's former press officer, intended for the real Portelli, offering their help in closing the bid to buy the football club. "In hindsight," Van Schaik said, "the real Joseph Portelli should have seen this message." He also received messages from people asking for jobs. Others asked if he could get them an apartment in Birkir- kara, while addressing him as "boss". Players from Ħamrun Spar- tans also sent messages, though Van Schaik, who does not speak Maltese, admits he was too overwhelmed by the vol- ume to translate them all. Perhaps the strangest detail is that some followers were never in on the joke at all. They had found the account through its enthusiastic pro-development comments and simply agreed with them, sending private messages praising Mercury Towers and thanking Portelli for what he was doing for the country. The account had gained fol- lowers, Van Schaik noted, not just because he was following people and they were following back, but also because some genuinely liked what they were reading. The gig is up Van Schaik came clean on April Fool's Day this year, posting a collection of the more memorable messages on his Limestone Jungle account, prompting a wave of responses from people insisting they had always known it was fake. "If you're clever, it's very obvious," he told them. "But not every- body realised." If Portelli himself ever makes contact, Van Schaik said he would delete the account im- mediately and would love nothing more than to interview him. His contingency plan, should things go the way they did with another litigious Mal- tese public figure he also paro- died, is to deny everything and say it was an April Fool's joke. Which, technically, it was.