25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Victor Ehibe is living that version at Jablonec, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jablonec is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dušan Pavlović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Matěj Hadaš 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. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Jablonec, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec 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 Matěj Hadaš was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
10 new faces, and Jablonec 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.
In brief
The dugoutJan Bačkovský is still being punished for one mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Jablonec and Bohemians 1905 have settled on $490.0K. 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.
He is going to Slavia Prague, the club has $610.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Prostějov is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The chase for Stefan Jovanoski ended with $170.0K changing hands and Mlada Boleslav out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Dušan Pavlović 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 words a physio says slowly. 47 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. Jablonec have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The name of Dušan Pavlović has come up in conversations Jablonec were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Raúl Blanco is living that version at Jablonec, and it tends to show in the first month.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $430.0K has been paid because Pedro Andrade is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The offer went to Viktoria Žižkov this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$170.0K on the table at Mlada Boleslav. 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 chase for Michal Málek ended with $150.0K changing hands and Chrudim out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Slavia Prague for Nassim Innocenti 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
$150.0K settles it between the clubs for Michal Málek
Chrudim have accepted the money. What Jablonec do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jablonec have gone to Prostějov with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“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; Jablonec are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
SquadWords at Jablonec training over how hard people work
The dugoutMatěj Hadaš knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Dušan Pavlović 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.
25 appearances and 12 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamin Jawo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 May 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Jan Bačkovský'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rudolf Obal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamin Jawo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lukáš Matějka 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.
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 Lukáš Matějka is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dušan Pavlović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ladislav Mužík will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dušan Pavlović 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jablonec, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saidou Alioum signs something — a contract at Jablonec or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
This is not rotation. Lamin Jawo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Jablonec is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Lamin Jawo 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.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jablonec told Nassim Innocenti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martin Melichar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Martin Melichar signs something — a contract at Jablonec or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dušan Pavlović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamin Jawo 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 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 Lukáš Matějka is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nassim Innocenti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dušan Pavlović 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamin Jawo 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saidou Alioum signs something — a contract at Jablonec or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
123 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Lamin Jawo 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
9 new faces, and Jablonec 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.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jablonec told Filip Slavíček something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Martin Melichar signs something — a contract at Jablonec or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jablonec have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamin Jawo 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.
137 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lukáš Havel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dušan Pavlović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamin Jawo 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jablonec, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jablonec told Pavel Kačor something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 31 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Dušan Pavlović 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamin Jawo 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Dušan Pavlović will call it something else in private.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
In brief
The dugoutJan Bačkovský is still being punished for one mistake
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec 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 Lamin Jawo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 combined actions and 6.72. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $1.2M of what Jablonec paid for Matěj Pulkrab is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lukáš Havel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dušan Pavlović had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The phone has started ringing about Lukáš Matějka again, and this time the name on the line is Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz. Jablonec are listening politely and promising nothing.
140 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Amstetten waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jablonec is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Saidou Alioum reports back to Jablonec with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The phone has started ringing about Dušan Pavlović again, and this time the name on the line is Táborsko. Jablonec are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Jablonec close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Dušan Pavlović 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.
“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 Jablonec, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. David Huf had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jablonec is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The chase for Awal Auta ended with $340.0K changing hands and Sigma Olomouc out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Vakhtang Chanturishvili 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Stefanos Katsikas has just signed for Jablonec, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jablonec people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Táborsko had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The deal with Dukla Prague is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Dušan Pavlović 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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Saidou Alioum had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jablonec people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Dušan Pavlović again, and this time the name on the line is Táborsko. Jablonec are listening politely and promising nothing.
Dušan Pavlović 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jablonec is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Vakhtang Chanturishvili 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Lamin Jawo 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 dugout1 Jan 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Lukas Holes to a room that had heard them before.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jablonec is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mohamed Tijani 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vakhtang Chanturishvili and Jablonec agree another 2 years.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Filip Zorvan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Jablonec.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Lamin Jawo 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.
0‑1 to Banik Ostrava, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Hadaš 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.
“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; Jablonec are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jiří Sláma’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jablonec needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
Player ratingsSaidou Alioum beats them one at a time
Dušan Pavlović 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Lamin Jawo 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 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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Maksym Diachuk’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jablonec needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jablonec. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
BoardroomThe Jablonec production line keeps running
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matěj Hadaš was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Jablonec who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Lukáš Matějka 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Bohemians 1905 made Jablonec work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamin Jawo 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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Jablonec will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Lukáš Matějka 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Lukas Holes could afford to be generous.
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 Jablonec, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadRudolf Obal is the weekend's best young player
“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 Jablonec know it.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Matěj Hadaš 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.
Mohamed Tijani 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.
Nobody at Jablonec 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.
Something was said to Jan Hanuš and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sigma Olomouc in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jablonec know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec 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 Lamin Jawo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jablonec told Maksym Diachuk something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamin Jawo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Rudolf Obal is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Jablonec will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Maksym Diachuk'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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec 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 Matěj Hadaš was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jablonec can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Lukas Holes on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Rudolf Obal’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Jablonec.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Lamin Jawo 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The deal that would have taken Saidou Alioum to Dukla Prague has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Jablonec with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The offer from Táborsko for Matěj Hadaš 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.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
$580.0K settles it between the clubs for Marián Tvrdoň
Sparta Prague have accepted the money. What Jablonec do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Jablonec has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Jablonec 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.
Vakhtang Chanturishvili 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.
Jablonec asked and Artis Brno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$83.0K was the most the club would pay and Sparta Prague were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The offer went to Karviná this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Prostějov have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$290.0K was the most the club would pay and Zbrojovka Brno were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $150.0K — a club that wants Marvis Ogiomade enough to be asked twice.
$290.0K on the table at Zbrojovka Brno. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. České Budějovice have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Dušan Pavlović 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.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Táborsko had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
0‑3 against Slavia Prague, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $180.0K of what Jablonec paid for Patrick Kpozo is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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 Jablonec, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Jihlava this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Jablonec have gone to Sparta Prague with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo deal for Daniel Fišl at that price
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Vakhtang Chanturishvili 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.
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Sparta Prague were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jablonec people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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 offer from Táborsko for Dušan Pavlović 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tomáš Schánělec provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Kpozo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $135.0K — a club that wants Matěj Zachoval enough to be asked twice.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Prostějov have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Dušan Pavlović 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jablonec people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Prostějov have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Lukáš Matějka from Táborsko for $1.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
In brief
SquadWords at Jablonec training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Sepahan for Alan Do Marcolino 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.
The phone has started ringing about Dušan Pavlović again, and this time the name on the line is Táborsko. Jablonec are listening politely and promising nothing.
Jablonec asked and Dukla Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Jablonec offered $33.0K; Teplice 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.
The terraces3 Jul 2028
Jablonec spend $2.2M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.2M for Robi Saarma, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
The clubs have shaken hands with Slavia Prague; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
Sebastian Nebyla 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jablonec can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
SquadWords at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Slavia Prague arrived with $5.9M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Táborsko had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Jablonec, and it is not being withdrawn.
Martin Cedidla has gone, the accounts have $5.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jablonec have done the hard part with Prostějov, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.5M — a club that wants Alexandr Sojka enough to be asked twice.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamin Jawo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Vakhtang Chanturishvili is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dušan Pavlović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Sebastian Nebyla may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Jablonec could ask drops and the wages Patrick Kpozo can ask rise.
19 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Saidou Alioum
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Jablonec
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Kpozo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Klemen Mihelak 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jablonec can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ladislav Mužík 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 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 Daniel Souček is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Jablonec, and it is not being withdrawn.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
He is 23 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Jablonec, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jablonec have gone to Ústí nad Labem with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Jablonec asked and Pribram said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamin Jawo 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.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Jakub Pokorný 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.
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Lamin Jawo 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Jablonec are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Position 12, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
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.
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 Saidou Alioum is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dušan Pavlović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jablonec have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tomáš Schánělec. 1‑0 against Slovan Liberec, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matěj Hadaš was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout25 Oct 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.” Lukas Holes, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jablonec have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamin Jawo 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lamin Jawo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Viktoria Plzen next, and one man in the Jablonec dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
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 6.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamin Jawo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Jablonec are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jablonec and Opava have settled on $470.0K. 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Dušan Pavlović 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.