Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Jagiellonia is saying, and nobody at ŁKS Łódź is enjoying the guessing.
Stjepan Davidović 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Motor Lublin have kept their man, and ŁKS Łódź go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
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 Grzegorz Klich left the room before anybody could ask which.
Radomiak Radom 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.
Everything agreed with Jagiellonia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ŁKS Łódź 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yvan Ikia Dimi. 1‑0 against Wisła Płock, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ŁKS Łódź 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.00, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Miłosz Szczepański, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Grzegorz Klich was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the ŁKS Łódź dressing room was either.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Wisla Krakow held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. ŁKS Łódź answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with 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 ŁKS Łódź 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 Bartosz Jukowski 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 Jakub Skowroński trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ander Izagirre has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
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 Hubert Matynia has written the date down.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Stjepan Davidović 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“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 dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Grzegorz Klich was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the ŁKS Łódź dressing room was either.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at ŁKS Łódź training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartosz Jukowski 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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Pogon in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Ikia Dimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Michał Pawlik’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and ŁKS Łódź 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.
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.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ŁKS Łódź lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 ŁKS Łódź, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Fran González again, and this time the name on the line is Cracovia. ŁKS Łódź are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Szymon Mida is living that version at ŁKS Łódź, and it tends to show in the first month.
Artur Crăciun 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 Jun 2028
Words at ŁKS Łódź training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jasper Löffelsend 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. Widzew Łódź have kept their man, and ŁKS Łódź go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Bernal 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Artur Serobyan signs something — a contract at Lechia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Lechia have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
“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 Lechia will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sebastian Kaminski kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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 Lechia, and it is not being withdrawn.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.56, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lechia, and 1 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
It needed Vladislav Blănuţă to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Radomiak Radom, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lechia can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 27 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lechia have done the hard part with GKS Katowice, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stal Mielec have kept their man, and Lechia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Gornik Leczna have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Igor Bambecki. The answer from Lechia has not changed — yet.
Miłosz Kałahur 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 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Lechia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alexander Simmelhack is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Lechia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lechia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matúš Vojtko signs something — a contract at Lechia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Something was said to Tomasz Wójtowicz and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matej Rodin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
6 clean sheets from 28 appearances at Pogoń Siedlce. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.