Marked for Ivan Vidović
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 May 2030
Oliver Stanišić damages knee ligaments — 139 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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 terraces27 May 2030
The mood at FCI Tallinn has turned into something else
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.
Player ratings27 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 May 2030
Marek Pikk 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 May 2030
Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Tovstik 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.
Squad27 May 2030
“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.
Match25 May 2030
Tulevik left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings27 May 2030
5.28 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings27 May 2030
5.71 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Apr 2029
Bogdan Vaštšuk 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sander Tovstik, and the manager let it.
Match28 Apr 2029
Levadia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raimond Mets 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
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.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match16 Apr 2029
FCI Tallinn refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 13 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market16 Apr 2029
“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.
Match14 Apr 2029
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Nikita Ivanov 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bogdan Vaštšuk 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“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.
Match14 Apr 2029
Three points for FCI Tallinn, 1‑0 the final word against Parnu in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“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 FCI Tallinn know it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Mar 2029
Tammeka will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. FCI Tallinn were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Marek Pikk takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market19 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Nikita Ivanov 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.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Ninety minutes of Marek Pikk at his very best
Marked 8.99. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at FCI Tallinn.
Squad19 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Maxim Druchik
“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.
Match17 Mar 2029
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Marek Pikk in the middle of it, and Tammeka unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at FCI Tallinn training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bogdan Vaštšuk 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.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
5.35. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces15 Jan 2029
Anger at FCI Tallinn spills outside the ground
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.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Pressure builds in the FCI Tallinn boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market15 Jan 2029
“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 FCI Tallinn, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Bogdan Vaštšuk 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“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 FCI Tallinn know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Dec 2028
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“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 FCI Tallinn know it.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Sören Dutoit 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 FCI Tallinn this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces20 Nov 2028
Anger at FCI Tallinn spills outside the ground
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.
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
Pressure builds in the FCI Tallinn boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Sören Dutoit 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Oliver Stanišić 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Vidović and FCI Tallinn agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad20 Nov 2028
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.