64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Prostějov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Daniel Hrudka 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.
Nazar Lys 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.
Banik Ostrava have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Prostějov have made the call to Slovan Liberec. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Cole Hay has just signed for Prostějov, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Prostějov can pretend not to have heard.
4 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.
Tomáš Kott 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.
$13.0K was the most the club would pay and Pribram 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.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Prostějov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Prostějov 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 Prostějov can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is saying, and nobody at Prostějov is enjoying the guessing.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Prostějov 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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Daniel Hrudka 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.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Prostějov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Prostějov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hrudka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Prostějov have made the call to Slovacko. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
“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 Prostějov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Prostějov is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladimir Schick will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Prostějov the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with Slovan Liberec, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slavia Prague keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Tomáš Kott 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.
Prostějov asked and Slovacko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
142 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Prostějov 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 Prostějov, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Prostějov have done the hard part with Zbrojovka Brno, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Tomáš Kott 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Nenna 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.
Slavia Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutTomáš Kott asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Prostějov can pretend not to have heard.
Tomáš Kott and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hrudka 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Prostějov has been clear about where Daniel Hrudka stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Prostějov, another week without a signature from Miracle Ukadike.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Prostějov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Prostějov are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad31 May 2032
Daniel Hrudka 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 has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam Sosna trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Prostějov will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Prostějov know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Prostějov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Prostějov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2032
Daniel Hrudka 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 words a physio says slowly. 25 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 Prostějov can pretend not to have heard.
Viktor Hýsek 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 Daniel Hrudka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Prostějov. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Prostějov could ask drops and the wages Ben Close can ask rise.
Viktor Hýsek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Daniel Hrudka 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 Prostějov, and both men came out saying it was fine.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Prostějov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Tomáš Kott 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 Prostějov know it.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hrudka 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 manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Prostějov, another week without a signature from Alessandro Nenna.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Prostějov know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Prostějov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Tomáš Kott 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hrudka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomáš Kott trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Prostějov would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miracle Ukadike signs something — a contract at Prostějov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Ben Close’s negotiating for him
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Viktor Hýsek 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 Daniel Hrudka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2032
A place in the month's best eleven for Prince Cissé
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Prince Cissé has come out of that comparison in the side, and Prostějov have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Prostějov, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Prostějov can pretend not to have heard.
Viktor Hýsek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hrudka 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Tomáš Kott
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Tomáš Kott 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hrudka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Tomáš Kott will call it something else in private.
The dugout16 Feb 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Prostějov dressing room was either.
He is 21 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.
52 games in 128 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Nenna 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.
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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Banik Ostrava is saying, and nobody at Prostějov is enjoying the guessing.
The deal that would have taken Vladimir Schick to Zlin has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Prostějov with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Viktor Hýsek 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hrudka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout2 Feb 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Stefan Duda
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Prostějov they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Prostějov have done the hard part with Banik Ostrava, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Tomáš Kott 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 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.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hrudka 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Antonis Dermitzakis. 2‑1 against Viktoria Žižkov, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Everybody at Prostějov saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
In brief
Player ratingsAdam Sosna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsThe game went through Tomáš Kott — 6.85
Boardroom90% of the income goes out in wages at Prostějov
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Zlin the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Prostějov will enjoy reviewing.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zlin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Prostějov is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Prostějov, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Prostějov have done the hard part with Slavia Prague, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hrudka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A brace, and Stefan Duda takes the afternoon — 8.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stefan Duda provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Everything agreed with Pardubice, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Viktor Hýsek 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.
Prostějov asked and Slavia 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.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Daniel Hrudka 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Prostějov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tomáš Kott 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hrudka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 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.
Viktor Hýsek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Daniel Hrudka 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 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Prostějov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hrudka 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.
Position 13, 15 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.
Something was said to Miroslav Hamsik and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Prostějov dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Prostějov, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Tomáš Kott and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hrudka 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Prostějov is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Viktor Hýsek 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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Daniel Hrudka 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomáš Kott trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Prostějov will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Prostějov has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Prostějov 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 Prostějov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hrudka 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Viktoria Žižkov scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Prostějov can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zbrojovka Brno keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Tomáš Kott 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Prostějov has been clear about where Amadu Camará stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Prostějov can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Prostějov have done the hard part with Slovacko, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Prostějov asked and Slavia 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Words at Prostějov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilias Lazaridis 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.