“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 The request is on a desk at Považská Bystrica, and it is not being withdrawn.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Amath Cissé 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Považská Bystrica, another week without a signature from Nicolas Kapuš.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 The request is on a desk at Považská Bystrica, and it is not being withdrawn.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.” Považská Bystrica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Považská Bystrica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Amath Cissé falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Považská Bystrica has been clear about where Marek Bielan stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Považská Bystrica can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Považská Bystrica 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. Slovan Bratislava have kept their man, and Považská Bystrica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Nicolas Kapuš 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.
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 Samuel Miroslav Kuchárik is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Považská Bystrica can pretend not to have heard.
Tomáš Solil 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 Amath Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Považská Bystrica, another week without a signature from Diego Zarate.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Považská Bystrica have made the call to Podbrezova. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Nicolas Kapuš 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diego Zarate trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Marek Bielan is on it.
“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 Považská Bystrica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Amath Cissé 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 Nicolas Kapuš was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Miroslav Kuchárik signs something — a contract at Považská Bystrica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutYann Vyxienh asks for a word with the manager
SquadThe training reports on Alexander Roos are not good
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Považská Bystrica is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amath Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Považská Bystrica 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. Považská Bystrica know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Squad22 May 2028
Questions about Marek Hamrák on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Dávid Gallovič 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 had been thinking. Kamil Karaš 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolas Kapuš trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Považská Bystrica than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Považská Bystrica would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamil Karaš 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 did not go to KFC Komárno to sit and watch. I want to come back to Považská Bystrica and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Považská Bystrica 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Považská Bystrica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Považská Bystrica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amath Cissé 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.
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.
Nobody at Považská Bystrica 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nicolas Kapuš signs something — a contract at Považská Bystrica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Považská Bystrica can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Považská Bystrica 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 Amath Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to KFC Komárno to sit and watch. I want to come back to Považská Bystrica and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Považská Bystrica 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yann Vyxienh signs something — a contract at Považská Bystrica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“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 Považská Bystrica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kamil Karaš 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Amath Cissé 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.
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.
Nobody at Považská Bystrica 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 Nicolas Kapuš 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 Nicolas Kapuš signs something — a contract at Považská Bystrica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Považská Bystrica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nicolas Kapuš did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.38 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Považská Bystrica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Amath Cissé 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amath Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout18 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 0‑1 Dominik Bozenik left the room before anybody could ask which.
Something was said to Stephen Reynaerts and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Šamorín next, and one man in the Považská Bystrica dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Považská Bystrica can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amath Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dominik Bozenik after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Považská Bystrica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Považská Bystrica asked and AS Trencin 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 had been thinking. Tomáš Kachnič is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Something was said to Diego Zarate and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Kamil Karaš is on it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at MSK Zilina is saying, and nobody at Považská Bystrica is enjoying the guessing.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Amath Cissé 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.
Samuel Mišík 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.
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.
Považská Bystrica have made the call to KFC Komárno. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Považská Bystrica have done the hard part with AS Trencin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Kamil Karaš 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 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.
Považská Bystrica asked and Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš 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 new man at Považská Bystrica has worked with Samuel Mišík before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The deal with DAC Dunajska Streda 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 Považská Bystrica 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 new man at Považská Bystrica has worked with Samuel Mišík before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Kamil Karaš 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 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 new man at Považská Bystrica has worked with Samuel Mišík before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 Kamil Karaš is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jérôme Boateng trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Marián Weber has written the date down.
Kamil Karaš 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.
The new man at Považská Bystrica has worked with Samuel Mišík before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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 Marek Teplan is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMarián Weber knocks on the manager's door
Davide Grassini 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Rudolf Božik 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 new man at Považská Bystrica has worked with Samuel Mišík before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 Kamil Karaš is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMarián Weber 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 Považská Bystrica 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 Rudolf Božik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Považská Bystrica has worked with Samuel Mišík before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
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 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 Považská Bystrica will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Stará Ľubovňa? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Považská Bystrica 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.
Kamil Karaš 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 had been thinking. Davide Grassini 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 new man at Považská Bystrica has worked with Samuel Mišík before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout1 Feb 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Dominik Bozenik to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
The dugoutMarek Teplan has become a man the manager trusts
Davide Grassini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Rudolf Božik 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 new man at Považská Bystrica has worked with Samuel Mišík before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
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 Kamil Karaš is on it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dominik Bozenik was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Považská Bystrica dressing room was either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Považská Bystrica can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davide Grassini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Považská Bystrica has worked with Samuel Mišík before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout18 Jan 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Dominik Bozenik to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutDenis Potoma is still being punished for one mistake
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Považská Bystrica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jakub Palán is living that version at Považská Bystrica, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rudolf Božik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
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 0‑1 Dominik Bozenik left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is 20, and nobody at Považská Bystrica signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
David Christián Murár 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 Amath Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
20 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.
Marked 7.22. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dominik Bozenik was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Považská Bystrica dressing room was either.
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.
Amath Cissé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Nicolas Kapuš falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have 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 Považská Bystrica will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Šamorín next, and one man in the Považská Bystrica dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maximilián Halo is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Tomáš Solil 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Amath Cissé 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dominik Bozenik after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.