Marked for Abraham Faruk
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartaks lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Pavels Rugins breaks a bone — 51 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Jan 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Spartaks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with Ventspils, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Spartaks
Eduards Fertovs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Spartaks asked and FCI Levadia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“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; Spartaks are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
Pavels Rugins back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Spartaks has worked with Pavels Rugins before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartaks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Eduards Fertovs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Pavels Rugins back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Spartaks has worked with Pavels Rugins before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Roberts Zjuzins's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Janis Savalnieks has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Spartaks 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartaks, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 May 2027
Marked 7.98 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match22 May 2027
The wait goes on for Spartaks
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Spartaks
Vitalijs Ikaunieks 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 terraces24 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Radomir Dorokhov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad24 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abraham Faruk and Spartaks agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout24 May 2027
The team sheet said everything about Duke Osimaga
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Duke Osimaga.
Match22 May 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout24 May 2027
Half-satisfied: Pavels Cauna on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings24 May 2027
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
Steady
Match15 May 2027
Beaten 0‑4 by Liepaja, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad17 May 2027
Abraham Faruk breaks a bone — 15 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match17 May 2027
Spartaks up to position 2
14 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market17 May 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 Spartaks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 May 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; Spartaks are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad17 May 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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Justice Apaingolo, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 May 2027
Nobody left the Spartaks dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 May 2027
0‑3 to Skonto, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad10 May 2027
22 days out for Abraham Faruk after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spartaks will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad10 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market10 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Gatis Dubra
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gatis Dubra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartaks the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
Top-of-the-table clash for Spartaks
Liepaja next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Duke Osimaga
“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.
Boardroom10 May 2027
Nobody left the Spartaks dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout10 May 2027
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 0‑3 Pavels Cauna left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules Abraham Faruk out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartaks will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings3 May 2027
A brace, and Raivis Stolcers takes the afternoon — 8.95
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Raivis Stolcers provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad3 May 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Vitalijs Ikaunieks and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartaks can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match1 May 2027
After 4 games, Spartaks finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Ventspils; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Match3 May 2027
Halfway: Spartaks sit in position 2
14 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Market3 May 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Match1 May 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Ventspils leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad26 Apr 2027
Abraham Faruk breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Apr 2027
Spartaks make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Spartaks have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Justice Apaingolo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Vitalijs Ikaunieks’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Spartaks.
Looking ahead26 Apr 2027
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Spartaks.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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
Upbeat
Squad19 Apr 2027
Abraham Faruk breaks a bone — 46 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 Apr 2027
Spartaks up to position 2
10 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 7.91 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match17 Apr 2027
Nobody wants to play Spartaks right now
3 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Justice Apaingolo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vitalijs Ikaunieks has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match17 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vitalijs Ikaunieks. 2‑0 against Daugavpils, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Looking ahead19 Apr 2027
Top-of-the-table clash for Spartaks
Metta/LU next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sani Suleiman, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Apr 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Radomir Dorokhov obliged against Jelgava. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Spartaks.
Squad12 Apr 2027
53 days out for Abraham Faruk after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spartaks will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
A brace, and Radomir Dorokhov takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Radomir Dorokhov provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Gatis Dubra, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.03
A mark of 8.03 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market12 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Gatis Dubra
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gatis Dubra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartaks the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Vitalijs Ikaunieks and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Gatis Dubra has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Kossi Comlan
“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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Jelgava to sit and watch. I want to come back to Spartaks and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
Abraham Faruk breaks a bone — 60 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Firas Belabdelli is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad5 Apr 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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Apr 2027
Three points for Spartaks, 2‑0 the final word against Jelgava in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raivis Stolcers, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
12 new faces, and Spartaks 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout5 Apr 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.” Pavels Cauna, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Abraham Faruk breaks a bone — 67 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Kossi Comlan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Liepaja to sit and watch. I want to come back to Spartaks and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vitalijs Ikaunieks trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Pavels Dubra 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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Roberts Zjuzins’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Spartaks needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Spartaks lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Abraham Faruk breaks a bone — 74 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartaks may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Spartaks
Vitalijs Ikaunieks 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Liepaja left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pavels Cauna after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
81 days out for Abraham Faruk after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spartaks will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market15 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartaks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Vitalijs Ikaunieks and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 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 Spartaks know it.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Raivis Stolcers has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match13 Mar 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Eduards Savalnieks’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Spartaks.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Justice Apaingolo, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Marked 7.93 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Spartaks had the best player on the pitch.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I watch every Spartaks game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jelgava runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
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Looking ahead
Spartaks take on the side everybody is chasing
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
Abraham Faruk breaks a bone — 88 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Spartaks
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Duke Osimaga and Spartaks agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Justice Apaingolo 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Roberts Oss has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikita Laizans has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Raivis Bulvitis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gatis Tarasovs has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Too much change too quickly at Spartaks
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Abraham Faruk out for 95 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartaks will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Mar 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; Spartaks are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bilal Yakubu, and the manager let it.
Market1 Mar 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Spartaks, another week without a signature from Bilal Yakubu.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Liepaja to sit and watch. I want to come back to Spartaks and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Aleksandrs Kamess has gone, the accounts have $110.0K 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Abraham Faruk 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. Abraham Faruk has, at Spartaks, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Skonto, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at NK Maribor is saying, and nobody at Spartaks is enjoying the guessing.
Market25 Jan 2027
Ventspils paid $110.0K and Spartaks took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovan Liberec have kept their man, and Spartaks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Spartaks
Vitalijs Ikaunieks 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Spartaks have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Duke Osimaga 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.