“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 The request is on a desk at Chrudim, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chrudim have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Pribram keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Chrudim have gone to Banik Ostrava with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Chrudim asked and Pribram said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Jurčenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pavel Jankto has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chrudim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Slavia Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Chrudim offered $800.0K; Jablonec said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Banik Ostrava have kept their man, and Chrudim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Jurčenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chrudim have made the call to Slavia Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Chrudim could ask drops and the wages Pavel Osmančík can ask rise.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chrudim people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$420.0K on the table at Banik Ostrava. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Petrák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chrudim can pretend not to have heard.
Chrudim have gone to Jablonec with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Ľubomír Šatka 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Chrudim will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Jurčenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chrudim asked and Sigma Olomouc 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 offer from Pirin Blagoevgrad for Jakub Kolář 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.
$800.0K was the most the club would pay and Jablonec were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Chrudim have gone to Viktoria Žižkov with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovan Liberec have kept their man, and Chrudim go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jan Vydra is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chrudim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Jurčenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chrudim asked and Táborsko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Rajmund Mikuš 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chrudim has been clear about where Jan Shejbal stands, which is more than many ever get.
David Jurčenko 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 Pavel Osmančík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Chrudim know it.
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 Jakub Kolář is on 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 Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Jurčenko 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chrudim, another week without a signature from Ľubomír Šatka.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chrudim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chrudim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Jurčenko 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan Knapík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Dario Grgić is on it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrik Schön signs something — a contract at Chrudim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chrudim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gabriel Kulla has just signed for Chrudim, and for once the answer mattered.
David Jurčenko 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Jan Knapík 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chrudim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chrudim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Chrudim will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ondřej Bláha has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chrudim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chrudim may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Jan Knapík 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
11 new faces, and Chrudim are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chrudim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chrudim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavel Osmančík will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chrudim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Jurčenko 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Knapík 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.
“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 Chrudim, and 14 appearances in 42 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Chrudim 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pavel Osmančík trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chrudim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Shejbal 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Chrudim are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Something was said to Ondřej Pavlík and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Jambor knocks on the manager’s door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chrudim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavel Osmančík will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chrudim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Jurčenko 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.
Nobody at Chrudim 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
22 goals and a season average of 7.39 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Divine Teah, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.53
A mark of 8.53 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
At 21 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chrudim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chrudim can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Pavel Osmančík has agreed terms with Zbrojovka Brno for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Grgić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dario Grgić. 3‑1 against Slavia Kroměříž, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ondřej Lehoczki has just signed for Chrudim, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Chrudim close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Jablonec; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
An order from above at Chrudim: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Ľubomír Šatka 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.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Grgić 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chrudim have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Jurčenko provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ondřej Bláha has, at Chrudim, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The deal with Zbrojovka Brno 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Trnava have kept their man, and Chrudim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chrudim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Petržalka for Ondřej Pavlík 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.24, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Everything agreed with Slavia Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
David Jurčenko 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Dario Grgić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pardubice have kept their man, and Chrudim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chrudim can pretend not to have heard.
Chrudim had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Slavia Prague, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The chase for Jacques Fokam Sandeu ended with $190.0K changing hands and Dukla Prague out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Chrudim rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Vlašim had no answer to any of it.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
A brace, and Tomáš Polyák takes the afternoon — 8.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tomáš Polyák provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Divine Teah did not need any: 8.34, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tomáš Polyák. 4‑3 against Vlašim, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Dario Grgić 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Divine Teah did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Slavia Prague B made Chrudim work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Knapík 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.
At 21 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.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chrudim lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jan Knapík 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 Dario Grgić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. David Jurčenko 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Viktoria Žižkov spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
Player ratingsDario Grgić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsDavid Jurčenko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Grgić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pavel Brabec after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutMichal Řezáč knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan Knapík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dario Grgić. 1‑0 against Slavia Kroměříž, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A brace, and Dario Grgić takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dario Grgić provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Chrudim know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dario Grgić scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Artis Brno, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Grgić 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chrudim can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I did not go to Zlate Moravce to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chrudim and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Pavel Brabec left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chrudim have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jan Knapík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Dario Grgić 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.
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 dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pavel Brabec was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chrudim dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Jablonec defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
David Jurčenko 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Jan Knapík 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.
Jablonec next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Martin Nový’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chrudim needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Chrudim know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Chrudim offered $10.0K; Banik Ostrava said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Grgić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Adam Jánoš 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Jihlava the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Chrudim will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Dario Grgić takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dario Grgić provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Rihards Matrevics 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 Jan Knapík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Divine Teah, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jan Knapík 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Dario Grgić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Chrudim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 21 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chrudim can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Chrudim 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.
Chrudim offered $1.1M; Slovan Liberec said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
David Jurčenko 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 offer went to Banik Ostrava 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Grgić 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.
“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 Chrudim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Slovan Liberec is saying, and nobody at Chrudim is enjoying the guessing.
$10.0K was the most the club would pay and Banik Ostrava were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Knapík 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chrudim can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Chrudim asked and Slavia 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 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. Divine Teah did not need any: 8.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Jan Knapík 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.
A conversation is coming this week. Chrudim will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Grgić 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.
Chrudim asked and Slavia 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.
At 23 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.
A brace, and Dario Grgić takes the afternoon — 8.46
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dario Grgić provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Chrudim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Chrudim will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chrudim have done the hard part with Dukla Prague, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
David Jurčenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Jan Knapík 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.
Chrudim asked and Sparta 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.
“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 Chrudim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Chrudim had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sparta Prague, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
David Jurčenko 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
$10.0K was the most the club would pay and Banik Ostrava were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan Knapík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Chrudim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Cerny has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Filip Coufal has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Jan Knapík 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 offer went to Banik Ostrava 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.
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.
Chrudim asked and Pardubice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Slavia Prague 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.
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. Chrudim will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Add another name to the list: Petržalka have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ondřej Pavlík. The answer from Chrudim has not changed — yet.
David Jurčenko 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.
Pardubice wanted more than $16.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fortune Bassey 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.
Chrudim have made the call to Zbrojovka Brno. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Chrudim will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fortune Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chrudim asked and Slovacko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Chrudim than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
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 Jakub Kolář is on it.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Chrudim had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chrudim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pavel Osmančík signs something — a contract at Chrudim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 5 on 52 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chrudim. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Chrudim and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Granečný 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.
Lukáš Holík 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chrudim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Jakub Kolář is on it.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Jambor knocks on the manager's door
David Jurčenko 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 Pavel Osmančík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam Jánoš trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fortune Bassey signs something — a contract at Chrudim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chrudim. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Granečný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Dollard Wandji'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Jurčenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Chrudim 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 easiest signature of my career.” David Jambor and Chrudim agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Granečný 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Jurčenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 5, 52 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Granečný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Denis Granečný and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chrudim has been clear about where Marek Kejř stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Dollard Wandji'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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chrudim, another week without a signature from Michal Řezáč.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chrudim will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“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 Chrudim know it.
Marek Icha 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 Denis Granečný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Pavel Brabec to a room that had heard them before.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Martin Toml is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavel Osmančík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chrudim asked and Dinamo Bucharest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 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.
Marked 7.82 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Chrudim close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Marek Icha 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chrudim and České Budějovice, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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 offer from Vihren for Ondřej Pavlík 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.
“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 Chrudim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mlada Boleslav paid $190.0K and Chrudim took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Pavel Osmančík wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Pavel Osmančík found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Jihlava went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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 Chrudim, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
The deal with Zbrojovka Brno 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.
Fortune Bassey 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.
“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 Chrudim, and it is not being withdrawn.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Chrudim will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
David Jurčenko 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Osmančík 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Teplice have kept their man, and Chrudim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
David Jurčenko 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 Fortune Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Chrudim will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chrudim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jan Lacko 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 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chrudim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chrudim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fortune Bassey 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.
6 goals in one match, Fortune Bassey on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chrudim and Opava.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chrudim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Dollard Wandji'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.
Opava next, and one man in the Chrudim dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martin Toml trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Chrudim the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chrudim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
David Jurčenko 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fortune Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Marked 7.10 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chrudim, another week without a signature from David Jurčenko.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chrudim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 3, 22 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Jan Lacko 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Fortune Bassey was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.65. 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavel Osmančík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Karel Holes has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chrudim told Serigne Fallou Mbacké Coly something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Chrudim 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chrudim know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
David Jurčenko 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 Fortune Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chrudim has been clear about where Adam Čičovský stands, which is more than many ever get.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pavel Osmančík provided it, and the 9.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Jurčenko provided it, and the 9.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Osmančík 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Denis Kaulfus 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 dugout21 Sep 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.” Pavel Brabec, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Dollard Wandji'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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fortune Bassey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jablonec have kept their man, and Chrudim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. David Jurčenko 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Antonin Soucek has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Chrudim know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The offer from Táborsko for David Jurčenko 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Chrudim close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 12 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The deal with Sparta Prague 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chrudim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Chrudim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fortune Bassey 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.
Chrudim asked and Bohemians 1905 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Adam Richter has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.