Marked for Tadeáš Hájovský
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Jakub Duris
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jakub Duris will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Trencin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 May 2027
Igor Dmitriev 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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Tadeáš Hájovský
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
Markus Poom 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 May 2027
Antonio Baždarić 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.
Market17 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Armando Dobra signs something — a contract at AS Trencin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match17 May 2027
Continental football is in reach for AS Trencin
31 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout17 May 2027
A door opens for Eynel
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.
Squad17 May 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Mikkel Boye
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikkel Boye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Trencin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Trencin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Igor Dmitriev 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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Richard Križan
“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 dugout10 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tadeáš Hájovský trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 May 2027
Markus Poom has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS Trencin 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.
Market10 May 2027
The name of Tadeáš Hájovský keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AS Trencin say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad10 May 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and AS Trencin will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad10 May 2027
A season on the outside for Clement Ansah
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at AS Trencin has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Richie Musaba damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Mikkel Boye
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikkel Boye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Trencin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Trencin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at AS Trencin
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Markus Poom was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I watch every AS Trencin game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at MFK Ruzomberok runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Markus Poom 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 Markus Poom is on it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Paur, and the manager let it.
Market12 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tadeáš Hájovský signs something — a contract at AS Trencin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I want to play”: Dylann Kam speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Richie Musaba damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Jakub Holúbek breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 Mar 2027
Franko Sabljić has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Trencin they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tadeáš Hájovský is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Pepijn Doesburg 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
24 days out for Jakub Holúbek after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Trencin will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Trencin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Igor Dmitriev 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Markus Poom 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
Eynel 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
33 days out for Jakub Holúbek after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Trencin will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market15 Mar 2027
Mikkel Boye has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Trencin they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Trencin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alex Húdok is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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 AS Trencin know it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“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.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I watch every AS Trencin game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at MFK Ruzomberok runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Markus Poom has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS Trencin 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Richard Križan 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 AS Trencin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Jakub Holúbek out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Trencin will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Richard Križan: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Trencin have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market15 Feb 2027
Mikkel Boye has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Trencin they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Armando Dobra 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 targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orenburg have kept their man, and AS Trencin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Igor Dmitriev 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.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I did not go to MFK Ruzomberok to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Trencin and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad15 Feb 2027
No place for Kai Brosnan in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AS Trencin are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Markus Poom has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS Trencin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Jakub Holúbek breaks a bone — 79 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Trencin people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market1 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Franko Sabljić
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franko Sabljić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Trencin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 1 in, 3 out at AS Trencin
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Pepijn Doesburg 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen have kept their man, and AS Trencin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Tadeáš Hájovský
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
95 days out for Jakub Holúbek after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Trencin will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Trencin people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer from Slovan Bratislava for Tadeáš Hájovský 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The deal with Spartak Myjava is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Pepijn Doesburg and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
AS Trencin asked and Slovan Bratislava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at AS Trencin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Markus Poom 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 targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Viktoria Plzen: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
Jakub Holúbek breaks a bone — 110 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.86, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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 AS Trencin have had the benefit of it.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer from Spartak Trnava for Matúš Sláviček 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tadeáš Hájovský is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ridwan Sanusi 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Trnava have kept their man, and AS Trencin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Pepijn Doesburg 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AS Trencin
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filipe Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It is the quietest kind of dressing-room problem and the one that lasts longest, because nobody has done anything anyone can be disciplined for. 4 players sit outside all 6 groups entirely, which is the detail that tends to matter.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Issa Traoré has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Tadeáš Hájovský
“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.
Market9 Nov 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.10 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, AS Trencin had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 21 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Loïc Bessilé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at AS Trencin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filipe Ferreira 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
The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Marselino Ferdinan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match17 Oct 2026
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Richie Musaba
“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 dugout19 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AS Trencin told Jonathan Mulder something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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 AS Trencin know it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gia Nadareishvili is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Loïc Bessilé 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. AS Trencin will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Markus Poom has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS Trencin 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Lukáš Skovajsa
“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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zlate Moravce in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Richie Musaba 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Sean Goss may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 AS Trencin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Pepijn Doesburg 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tadeáš Hájovský and AS Trencin agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at AS Trencin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Loïc Bessilé 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 targets14 Sep 2026
AS Trencin asked and Dukla 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑0 win over DAC Dunajska Streda, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Markus Poom
“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.