Marked for Nicolas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom25 Jun 2029
Pressure builds in the Zlin boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market25 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Zlin
Cletus Nombil 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“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 Zlin know it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Zlin has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“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.
Market18 Jun 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Michal Fukala’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zlin may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kostas Charalabous will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zlin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Radim Bětík, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolai Apland commits to Zlin for another 4 years.
Market4 Jun 2029
Nicolas is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zlin has been clear about where Nicolas stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Feb 2029
No end in sight to Zlin's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zlin has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Zlin
Cletus Nombil 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
108 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match10 Feb 2029
Dukla Prague left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lukáš Bartošák, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market12 Feb 2029
The name of Michal Cupák keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zlin say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
5.57 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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Nicolas never got going
5.71 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
Squad5 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolas and Zlin agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“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.