Marked for Uri Lima
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Jul 2027
Supporters organise against the Jihlava board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Jihlava
Antonín Růsek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Jihlava
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Miroslav Křehlík and Jihlava agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Jihlava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raimonds Krollis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
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.
Market19 Jul 2027
One of our own: Tomas Holes joins the Jihlava first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tomas Holes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Adam Vydra 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Jihlava
Position 15 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market10 May 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Jihlava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 May 2027
Antonín Růsek 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 May 2027
Patrick Kpozo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout10 May 2027
Pavel Soukup is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Squad10 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Uri Lima and Jihlava agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Apr 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad5 Apr 2027
Adrián Čermák 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Jihlava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matěj Polidar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Matyáš Miška gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Feb 2027
Jihlava sink to position 15
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Jihlava
Adrián Čermák 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Jihlava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Kpozo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Pavel Soukup
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Jihlava says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout11 Jan 2027
David Štětka: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jihlava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market11 Jan 2027
Jan Haala puts it in writing
“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 Jihlava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Jihlava and Mlada Boleslav have settled on $120.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Jihlava's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Jihlava has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Adrián Čermák 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A move Uri Lima would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Uri Lima is living that version at Jihlava, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Jihlava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Polidar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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.