Maxim Borisko 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 Marko Regža 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 Marko Regža trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hradec Králové told David Ludvíček something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Maxim Borisko 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Hradec Králové training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Regža 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.
Nobody at Hradec Králové 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hradec Králové. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Marko Regža 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.
Filip Čihák 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.
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 Tom Slončík is on it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Maxim Borisko
Maxim Borisko 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Hradec Králové training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Regža 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.
Nobody at Hradec Králové 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. Hradec Králové know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 David Ludvíček has written the date down.
Words at Hradec Králové training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Regža 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 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Antonín Vaníček commits to Hradec Králové for another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Hradec Králové training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Regža 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 Hradec Králové this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Elias Kachunga arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hradec Králové, another week without a signature from Jakub Uhrinčať.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Adam Vlkanova 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 Mar 2027
Marko Regža 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 point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“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; Hradec Králové are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hradec Králové this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Marko Regža 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. FC Argeș have kept their man, and Hradec Králové go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for David Sykora, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.” Jan Schick, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hradec Králové can pretend not to have heard.
Ondřej Mihálik scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Sigma Olomouc, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Hradec Králové training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Regža 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutTom Slončík has become a man the manager trusts
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Marko Regža 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.
Everybody at Hradec Králové saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jan Schick on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Sigma Olomouc next, and one man in the Hradec Králové dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Marko Regža 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladimír Darida and Hradec Králové agree another 1 years.
The goal that put Viktoria Plzen ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Hradec Králové equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The dugout7 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 1‑2 Jan Schick left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
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 Adam Vlkanova is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Slovan Liberec in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Zlin will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hradec Králové were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Slovacko go through and Hradec Králové go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Marked 7.98 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Marko Regža 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.
He is 21 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 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Adam Vlkanova had Hradec Králové level again within 4 minutes, and Zlin never got to play with a lead at all.
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hradec Králové and Bohemians 1905 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ondřej Mihálik was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.68. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Regža was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hradec Králové 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 Viktor Zentrich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 new faces, and Hradec Králové 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.
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Hradec Králové, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Jakub Uhrinčať'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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ondřej Mihálik’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hradec Králové needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Tom Slončík
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dukla Prague have kept their man, and Hradec Králové go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.22 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It needed František Čech to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Pardubice, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jan Schick chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
$6.0M on the table at Spartak Trnava. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tom Slončík did not need any: 8.34, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Hradec Králové offered $130.0K; Sparta Prague 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.
Hradec Králové asked and PAOK 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 21 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.
Jablonec left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Adam Vlkanova was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.