It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
David Planka 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Banik Ostrava, and 13 appearances in 39 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniel Holzer signs something — a contract at Banik Ostrava or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Filip Kubala 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 David Planka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Banik Ostrava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marián Tvrdoň trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody to talk to at the next peg, a few words of the language, and a training ground that has stopped being a foreign country. It never appears in a scouting report and it decides most signings.
Filip Kubala 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Banik Ostrava can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Hamidou Kante is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Banik Ostrava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Banik Ostrava, another week without a signature from Marián Tvrdoň.
3 goals in 24 games at Ústí nad Labem — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Banik Ostrava updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
34 points in position 11: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given 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 Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
David Planka 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.
Nobody at Banik Ostrava 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.
Filip Kubala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Planka 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.
Something was said to Daniel Holzer and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Dennis Owusu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Filip Kubala 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
David Planka 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 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 Banik Ostrava know it.
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.
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 Banik Ostrava would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdallah Gning provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Jihlava had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Filip Kubala 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.
At 22 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.
Three points for Banik Ostrava, 2‑0 the final word against Karviná in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad8 Feb 2027
David Planka 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 words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Banik Ostrava can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
David Planka 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Banik Ostrava lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Matúš Kmeť had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Sparta Prague paid $1.9M and Banik Ostrava took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Banik Ostrava can tell you which week it ends in.
Filip Kubala 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 Jan 2027
Dennis Owusu 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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Banik Ostrava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bohemians 1905 go through and Banik Ostrava go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dantaye Gilbert had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Banik Ostrava had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olympiacos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Slavia Prague paid $230.0K and Banik Ostrava took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Filip Kubala 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Banik Ostrava can tell you which week it ends in.
At 18 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.
The phone has started ringing about Dantaye Gilbert again, and this time the name on the line is Chrudim. Banik Ostrava are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Planka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Václav Jurečka provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dennis Owusu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Daniel Holzer'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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Lukas Sykora, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Hamidou Kante 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.
Three points for Banik Ostrava, 2‑1 the final word against Jablonec in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ondřej Kričfaluši 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.
10 combined actions and 7.02. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
20 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Lukas Sykora kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ondřej Kričfaluši 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dantaye Gilbert and Banik Ostrava agree another 5 years.
“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; Banik Ostrava are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I watch every Banik Ostrava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Viktoria Plzen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Lukas Sykora was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Banik Ostrava dressing room was either.
1 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 7.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hamidou Kante did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dukla Prague scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
Hamidou Kante 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.
“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; Banik Ostrava are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Vlasiy Sinyavskiy 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 Banik Ostrava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Karviná in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Hamidou Kante and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Banik Ostrava, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dennis Owusu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Lukas Sykora after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Filip Kubala was at the centre of it, Zlin were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
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.
He is 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ondřej Kričfaluši was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Filip Kubala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
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. 10 actions, 7.03, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.