Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marek Icha 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Slovan Liberec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Vojtěch Stránský is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slovan Liberec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Slovan Liberec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marek Icha and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Filip Vecheta commits to Slovan Liberec for another 4 years.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lukáš Masopust 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 name of Patrik Dulay has come up in conversations Slovan Liberec were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slavia Prague keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aziz Kayondo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slovan Liberec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Dominik Kúdelčík reports back to Slovan Liberec with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
$140.0K was the most the club would pay and Karviná were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Slovan Liberec asked and Chrudim said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
This is not rotation. Petr Juliš has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Slovan Liberec is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Marek Icha 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slovan Liberec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have shaken hands with Utrecht; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Slovan Liberec offered $190.0K; Vlašim 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Artis Brno have kept their man, and Slovan Liberec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Slovan Liberec will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Jan Mikula is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slovan Liberec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Slovan Liberec asked and Sparta Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slovan Liberec can pretend not to have heard.
Lukáš Mašek 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.
$140.0K on the table at Viktoria Plzen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Slovan Liberec will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Marek Icha 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slovan Liberec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha 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.
Filip Špatenka 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 dugout15 May 2028
Jan Mikula is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 Vojtěch Stránský is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Slovan Liberec, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Slovan Liberec would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomáš Koubek and Slovan Liberec agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Icha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jan Mikula was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I watch every Slovan Liberec game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atyrau runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Qëndrim Zyba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Slovan Liberec know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Slovan Liberec would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aziz Kayondo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slovan Liberec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lukáš Letenay 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filip Špatenka, and the manager let it.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrik Žitný 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jakub Hodek trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Slovan Liberec would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Slovan Liberec know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Slovan Liberec, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lukáš Letenay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Marek Icha falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I did not go to Zlate Moravce to sit and watch. I want to come back to Slovan Liberec and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
25 appearances at Universitatea Craiova and the goals have stopped going in. Slovan Liberec lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Nobody at Slovan Liberec 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Marek Icha falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Jan Mikula's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slovan Liberec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jan Bořil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Petr Hodouš has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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 Petr Hodouš is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Slovan Liberec know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Aziz Kayondo has moved up it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mick van Buren trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slovan Liberec can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Icha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Zlate Moravce to sit and watch. I want to come back to Slovan Liberec and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
10 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Universitatea Craiova. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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 Vojtěch Sychra is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slovan Liberec, another week without a signature from Alexandru Barna.
Lukáš Letenay 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Slovan Liberec 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Slovan Liberec, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Slovan Liberec know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 7 on 42 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slovan Liberec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lukáš Masopust and Slovan Liberec agree another 2 years.
Lukáš Letenay and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Icha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Slovan Liberec pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha 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.
Josué Grelaud is 20, and Slovan Liberec have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
9 shut-outs in 23 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Ivan Krajčírik has been having a lot of them.
Nobody at Slovan Liberec 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Petr Provod was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Slovan Liberec dressing room was either.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Lukáš Letenay has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Two goals and a mark of 8.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slovan Liberec can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lyfe Oldenstam has, at Slovan Liberec, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vojtěch Sychra commits to Slovan Liberec for another 4 years.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lukáš Letenay. 2‑0 against Jablonec, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Mick van Buren reports back to Slovan Liberec with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slovan Liberec can pretend not to have heard.
11 seasons and 344 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Slovan Liberec until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slovan Liberec is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marek Icha 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.
Lukáš Letenay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha 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.
Slovan Liberec asked and Vlašim said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Slovan Liberec know it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Douglas Santos is in the works
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slovan Liberec, another week without a signature from Vojtěch Stránský.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Petr Provod left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Vojtěch Stránský is on it.
In brief
The dugoutJakub Hodek knocks on the manager's door
Loan watchIvan Krajčírik’s loan is measured in nothing happening
Slovan Liberec asked and České Budějovice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Lukáš Letenay 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.
Hradec Králové paid $560.0K and Slovan Liberec took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
České Budějovice paid $560.0K and Slovan Liberec took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Mikula 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.
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 Jakub Hodek.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sparta Prague waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Slovan Liberec is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slovan Liberec can pretend not to have heard.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have shaken hands with Zbrojovka Brno; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slovan Liberec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Aziz Kayondo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Lukáš Masopust and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Icha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Slovan Liberec, and it is not being withdrawn.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Slovan Liberec have had the benefit of it.
The offer from Zlate Moravce for Aleko Basiladze was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The name of Raimonds Krollis has come up in conversations Slovan Liberec were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Marek Icha 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.
Slovan Liberec asked and Artis Brno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Slovan Liberec have made the call to Feyenoord. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Slovan Liberec, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Zbrojovka Brno were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lukáš Letenay. 2‑0 against Zbrojovka Brno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Mikula 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Petr Provod on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Marek Icha
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Icha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Filip Špatenka and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I watch every Slovan Liberec game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atyrau runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aleko Basiladze is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Icha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Lukáš Letenay 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 6.79, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Slovan Liberec know it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Petr Provod left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Slovan Liberec will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lukáš Hůlka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Marek Icha 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.
Position 5, 24 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.
“I watch every Slovan Liberec game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atyrau runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Petr Provod was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Slovan Liberec dressing room was either.
Marek Icha 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.
Marked 7.76. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Tomáš Koubek is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Marek Icha 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lukáš Letenay. 2‑0 against Pardubice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan Mikula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Slovan Liberec game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atyrau runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Jakub Hodek
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.
Slovan Liberec had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bari, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slovan Liberec can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hradec Králové waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Slovan Liberec is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Mlada Boleslav; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Teplice have kept their man, and Slovan Liberec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Slovan Liberec close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 11 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.
Lukáš Letenay 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Mikula 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Petr Juliš
“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 Slovan Liberec, and it is not being withdrawn.
Slovan Liberec have gone to Bari 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.
The offer from České Budějovice for Benjamin Nyarko was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Mick van Buren 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.
Slovan Liberec asked and Sigma Olomouc said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A 1‑0 win over Teplice, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Icha 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Mick van Buren and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Lukáš Hůlka 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.
10 goals in 28 games at Mlada Boleslav — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Slovan Liberec updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Slovan Liberec 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomáš Koubek, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Jan Mikula 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.