Marked for Milo Andersson Vaxell
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Mar 2028
Ruben Rosa hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Považská Bystrica can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Timotej Kudlička 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Ledion Ukaj 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
When it matters, Matúš Capko plays
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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Ruben Rosa knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Považská Bystrica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Šimon Ivan, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Davide Grassini
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Považská Bystrica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Zlate Moravce, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Davide Grassini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Petr Plachý 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Šimon Ivan, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan move for Viktor Sliacky is in the works
Považská Bystrica have made the call to Petržalka. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market7 Jun 2027
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Timotej Cagáň and Považská Bystrica agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Davide Grassini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Považská Bystrica 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.