Marked for Strahinja Petrovic
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Mantas Dapkus out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Utenis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Utenis can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
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Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Utenis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Donatas Simkus 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 dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Fiodor Barauskas'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.
Squad8 Nov 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 Utenis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Mantas Dapkus out for 75 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Utenis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Oct 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edvinas Simkus commits to Utenis for another 3 years.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Fiodor Barauskas'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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Utenis
Djordje Sergej 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
Mantas Dapkus breaks a bone — 82 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces4 Oct 2027
Anger at Utenis 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.
Market4 Oct 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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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Squad4 Oct 2027
Rokas Cernych 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Strahinja Petrovic and Utenis agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Mantas Dapkus out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Utenis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market20 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 Utenis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
The window shuts on the Petar Bosančić deal
Utenis ran out of time with Zalgiris. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Utenis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Donatas Simkus 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Linas Girdvainis and Utenis agree another 3 years.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Utenis
Strahinja Petrovic 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 dugout20 Sep 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Rokas Dapkus knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rokas Dapkus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lukas Mikoliunas
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Utenis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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 Utenis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Utenis
Ignas Dubickas 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.