Marked for Williams Wonah
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metta/LU waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market5 Jul 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Skonto can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jul 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Skonto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Tempers go at Skonto
Sam Parker 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 Jul 2032
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberts Ciganovs 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
5 new boys at the Skonto academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout5 Jul 2032
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Jun 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metta/LU waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market28 Jun 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Skonto can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jun 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jun 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Skonto they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Sam Parker in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2032
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roberts Ciganovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
“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.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
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 Pavels Jurkovskis is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2032
A fracture rules Williams Wonah out for 84 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Skonto will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Jun 2032
Skonto are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 26 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market21 Jun 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Skonto people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Jun 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Skonto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2032
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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
A falling-out at Skonto
Sam Parker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Olegs Rugins 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 dugout21 Jun 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hervé Adam, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Jun 2032
When it matters, Sam Parker plays
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jun 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Jun 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spartaks waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
“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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Djoliba keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Skonto asked and Southampton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2032
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roberts Ciganovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Jun 2032
International break empties Skonto
6 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words exchanged at Skonto
Sam Parker 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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
A muscle injury sidelines Pavels Bulvitis for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Skonto will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
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.