Marked for Bruno Bruno
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Bylis
Robert Murić 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Roberts Ozols 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
Partizani Tirana left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Oct 2027
Pedro Vieira breaks a bone — 14 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match9 Oct 2027
Bylis taken apart
1‑4 to Vllaznia Shkodër, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market11 Oct 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bylis can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Age has not caught Olávio Olávio yet — 7.92
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bylis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Bylis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radu Negru 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Dime Dimov
“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.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
Doors closed at Bylis
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
5.72 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
Olávio Olávio breaks a bone — 62 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match20 Jan 2027
The small margins put Bylis out
Out, 0‑1 to Flamurtari, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Bylis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Robert Murić 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 Bylis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gjorgi Stoilov, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ionuţ Gurău 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Nov 2026
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Jacques Fokam Sandeu decided nobody was going anywhere. Vllaznia Shkodër had no time left to answer.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Robert Murić 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 Bylis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Bylis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberts Ozols 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 terraces30 Nov 2026
The crowd has taken to Cheick Kone
At 20 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.74 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Bylis had the best player on the pitch.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Aurel Marku 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Cheick Kone changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Bylis had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Robert Murić 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 Bylis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
6 unbeaten for Bylis
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Bylis did not have in the autumn.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Bylis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberts Ozols 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The team sheet said everything about Vyacheslav Purak
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 Vyacheslav Purak.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Robert Murić 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 Bylis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Bylis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberts Ozols 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vyacheslav Purak, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bylis can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Robert Murić 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 Bylis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Bylis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberts Ozols 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Bruno Bruno
“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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.