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.
Aleksandr Šapovalov 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Skonto know it.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Aliyu Imrana 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Skonto know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Kaspars Zjuzins'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.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Skonto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Edin Omerović’s negotiating for him
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Skonto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Position 5 and 13 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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
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.
“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; Skonto are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Skonto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
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.
Aleksandr Šapovalov 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aliyu Imrana 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 19 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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 dugoutDapo Anunlopo without the man who signed him
Position 5 and 13 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.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dapo Anunlopo has just signed for Skonto, and for once the answer mattered.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Edin Omerović has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Aleksandr Šapovalov 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.
“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; Skonto are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Skonto will try again when the window opens; Ventspils may not be selling by then.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Roberts Cauna has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 23 gone
That is the business done at Skonto 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Skonto have done the hard part with Ventspils, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The deal that would have taken Vladimirs Tarasovs to Liepaja has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Skonto with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Aleksandr Šapovalov 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.
Skonto asked and MFK Michalovce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
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.
Mark Gibson 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vitalijs Cauna. 2‑1 against Daugavpils, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aliyu Imrana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Matthew Apter reports back to Skonto with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Skonto asked and Flora 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 phone has started ringing about Mohamed Bob again, and this time the name on the line is Daugavpils. Skonto are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Akeem Akanni 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.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Roberts Cauna has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Skonto know it.
Victor Ehibe 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Akeem Akanni is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Skonto can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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.
Mark Gibson 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 Nov 2029
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akeem Akanni 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Skonto can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Skonto, another week without a signature from Edin Omerović.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Aleksandr Šapovalov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Skonto has been clear about where Wessel van der Goot stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
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.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Akeem Akanni 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Skonto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Skonto would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Jonny Williams’s negotiating for him
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kaspars Zjuzins will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Skonto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Aleksandr Šapovalov 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Akeem Akanni 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 squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Edin Omerović is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Skonto has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Skonto know it.
Aleksandr Šapovalov 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 Oct 2029
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitalijs Cauna 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 squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Edin Omerović was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eduards Laizans will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Skonto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Aleksandr Šapovalov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akeem Akanni 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Skonto. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 7 and 8 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
“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.
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.
Aleksandr Šapovalov 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 Akeem Akanni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Skonto have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Jelgava for Lou Alexandre was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cheik Fofana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Skonto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Skonto have done the hard part with Flora, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mark Gibson 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Skonto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lou Alexandre will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Skonto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Skonto know it.
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 is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Roberts Cauna after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutMark Gibson asks for a word with the manager
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
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.
Aleksandr Šapovalov 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Skonto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Skonto can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandr Šapovalov 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.
A 1‑1 draw with Daugavpils leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vitalijs Stolcers was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Skonto dressing room was either.