Marked for Anthony Sifflet
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduards Ciganovs
47 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.
Match21 Oct 2027
A European night to forget for Skonto
0‑3. Petrolul play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
Match21 Oct 2027
5 matches without a win for Skonto
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Skonto are no longer polite ones.
Match21 Oct 2027
5 matches without a goal for Skonto
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Krišs Kārkliņš 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Afonso Leite 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.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
Doors closed at Skonto
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Janis Fertovs to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Skonto pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
Igors Cauna breaks a bone — 45 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Sep 2027
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Jānis Grīnbergs is a Skonto player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Skonto
Luc Netten and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afonso Leite 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Isaac Allan told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Isaac Allan has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Skonto.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Jaxon Brown gets it from the manager
“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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Klinshak Longbak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market27 Sep 2027
The name of Alvis Stolcers keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Skonto say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market13 Sep 2027
The deal that would have taken Alvis Stolcers to Metta/LU 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
67 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Skonto
Krišs Kārkliņš and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luc Netten was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Skonto asked and Olimpija Ljubljana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market13 Sep 2027
No place for Imrana Ahmad in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Imrana Ahmad has his answer from Skonto; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Vladimirs Dubra has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Skonto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Sep 2027
Skonto are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 19 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Roberts Gabovs out for 47 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Skonto, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Skonto may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 25 signed and 9 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Qarabag is saying, and nobody at Skonto is enjoying the guessing.
Squad6 Sep 2027
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Luc Netten 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Roberts Gabovs out for 54 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Skonto have done the hard part with Alashkert, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luc Netten commits to Skonto for another 4 years.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Skonto
Luc Netten and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Krišs Kārkliņš 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kauno Zalgiris have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Skonto have done the hard part with Kauno Zalgiris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Skonto
Kaspars Stolcers and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Krišs Kārkliņš 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Siauliai have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch2 Aug 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Skonto, and 4 appearances in 28 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Klinshak Longbak, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ifeanyi Okoye commits to Skonto for another 1 years.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Skonto have made the call to Noah. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
A loan move for Divine Teah is in the works
Skonto have made the call to Slavia Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2027
Kaspars Dubra damages knee ligaments — 47 days out
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 dugout28 Jun 2027
Yusuf Mohammed: that is not what I was promised
“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.
Market28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Luc Netten 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 2027
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krišs Kārkliņš was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Skonto asked and Slovan Liberec said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Skonto have made the call to Dila. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Gornik Zabrze: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Anthony Sifflet
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 43. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Ognjen Abramušić: that is not what I was promised
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Mathis Chambon arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mathis Chambon has, at Skonto, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yusuf Mohammed commits to Skonto for another 3 years.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Krišs Kārkliņš 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kaspars Dubra, and the manager let it.
Market15 Mar 2027
Anthony Sifflet is 20, and Skonto have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market15 Mar 2027
He is 18, and nobody at Skonto signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.