Marked for Kajus Bička
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Sep 2030
Only the photograph left for Rati Grigalava
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rati Grigalava will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Suduva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Tempers go at Suduva
Ognjen Marinković 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.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alexander Wilson has just signed for Suduva, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Words at Suduva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Sabo 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.
Transfer targets16 Sep 2030
Suduva asked and Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Sep 2030
21 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market16 Sep 2030
He is 19, and nobody at Suduva signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout16 Sep 2030
Ibrahima Seck gets picked when it counts
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 Ibrahima Seck is on it.
The dugout16 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leon Ivanović, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Sep 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stumbras waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Suduva is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout2 Sep 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Suduva 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.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zalgiris keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Words exchanged at Suduva
Amadou Sabo 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.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
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.
The dugout2 Sep 2030
“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 dugout2 Sep 2030
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.
Market2 Sep 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Suduva, another week without a signature from Markas Beneta.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
Everything agreed with Zalgiris, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Tempers go at Suduva
Amadou Sabo 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.
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
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.
Squad12 Aug 2030
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout12 Aug 2030
Amadou Sabo gets picked when it counts
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 Amadou Sabo is on it.
Squad12 Aug 2030
A row about effort at Suduva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kajus Bička was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Aug 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Suduva, another week without a signature from Khace Gordon.
Squad12 Aug 2030
A season on the outside for Simon Turner
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Suduva has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout12 Aug 2030
Pietro Tagliabue asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Suduva production line keeps running
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The dugout
The manager comes out for Tomas Kalinauskas
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Boardroom
The Suduva board put their names to it
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Jul 2030
Rati Grigalava has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Suduva they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Amadou Sabo 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 Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Suduva asked and Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
“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.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
A loan enquiry to Sparta Prague: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
Ibrahima Seck has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Suduva 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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
A row about effort at Suduva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kajus Bička was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
Omran Haydary asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market22 Jul 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout8 Jul 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Suduva have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
The offer went to Zalgiris this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words exchanged at Suduva
Amadou Sabo 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.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
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.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
Suduva sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
Moutir Chajia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Suduva 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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words at Suduva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kajus Bička 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 dugout8 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of Kajus Bička
“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.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
Rati Grigalava knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Suduva, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 Jul 2030
Suduva refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Suduva may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Jul 2030
A falling-out at Suduva
Amadou Sabo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omran Haydary, and the manager let it.
Market1 Jul 2030
Rati Grigalava is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Suduva has been clear about where Rati Grigalava stands, which is more than many ever get.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Hajduk Split have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
A loan move for Adam Žulevič is in the works
Suduva have made the call to Giugliano. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
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 Ognjen Marinković is on it.