Marked for Arvydas Eliosius
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jun 2028
20 days out for Arvydas Eliosius after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fakel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fakel can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Ilja Vasin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ilja Vasin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fakel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Nikolay Giorgobiani 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and Fakel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Fakel
Nuri Abdokov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Anton Kovalev
“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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to CSKA Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Dinamo Makhachkala 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Anger at Fakel 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.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Fakel boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Kuzmin has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Fakel is pretending otherwise.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Clayton Sampaio 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Fakel
Alexandr Nesterov 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Too much change too quickly at Fakel
10 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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Pavel Kireenko
“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 dugout12 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kirill Gorelov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The Fakel board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Arvydas Eliosius out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fakel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Jun 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 Fakel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Belajdi Pusi and Fakel agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Arvydas Eliosius has just signed for Fakel, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Clayton Sampaio 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.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
Volgar will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mutaalim Magomedov has pre-agreed a move to Fakel, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Abdula Bagamaev
“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
Crisis
Match29 May 2028
Every point is an argument now for Fakel
Position 16 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad29 May 2028
A fracture rules Arvydas Eliosius out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fakel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad29 May 2028
29 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad29 May 2028
Darko Todorović 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words exchanged at Fakel
Nuri Abdokov 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 dugout29 May 2028
“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 watch29 May 2028
“I did not go to Uralets-TS to sit and watch. I want to come back to Fakel and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout29 May 2028
Max Dziov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout29 May 2028
Vadim Pigas 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 Fakel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces30 Aug 2027
The mood at Atlantas 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.
Match30 Aug 2027
Atlantas sink to position 8
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Arvydas Eliosius out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlantas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Atlantas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Stumbras, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Ignas Barauskas has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Atlantas is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Muhammad Hussain and Atlantas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uglješa Radinović 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 Aug 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 Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atlantas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The deal with Zalgiris is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
No deal for Luka Račić at that price
Atlantas offered $340.0K; Kauno Zalgiris said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kauno Zalgiris have kept their man, and Atlantas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Nemanja Uglješić 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Arvydas Eliosius out for 58 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlantas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market16 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Kauno Zalgiris; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
$340.0K on the table at Kauno Zalgiris. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uglješa Radinović 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atlantas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
$340.0K was the most the club would pay and Kauno Zalgiris 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Jamiu Sulaimon 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kauno Zalgiris have kept their man, and Atlantas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uglješa Radinović 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Stumbras: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Atlantas's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Atlantas has to find a result from somewhere.
Match15 May 2027
Atlantas cannot find the net
12 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uglješa Radinović 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Atlantas
Baptiste Leclerc and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Marked 7.17. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout17 May 2027
Nemanja Uglješić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Atlantas 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 dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jack Goodman, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Darius Mikoliunas chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Donatas Dubickas to Utenis has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Atlantas with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uglješa Radinović 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The window shuts on the Roberts Vanins deal
Atlantas ran out of time with Stumbras. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad8 Feb 2027
23 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Atlantas has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 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 Atlantas can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atlantas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Jamiu Sulaimon gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jamiu Sulaimon has just signed for Atlantas, and for once the answer mattered.
Market11 Jan 2027
Atlantas say no — this time
The offer from Trakai for Arvydas Eliosius was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad11 Jan 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 Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$79.0K was the most the club would pay and Suduva 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stumbras have kept their man, and Atlantas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Uglješa Radinović 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
No place for Jamiu Sulaimon in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Atlantas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arvydas Eliosius, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marius Lasickas 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Uglješić 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
32 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atlantas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Nov 2026
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Atlantas money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Atlantas
Marius Lasickas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Uglješić 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Atlantas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Uglješić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 Sep 2026
Atlantas have let the market know Marius Vaitkunas can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A muscle injury and 18 days out for Saulius Simkus
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Atlantas will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomislav Simunovic 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Atlantas has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market14 Sep 2026
The window shut and Marius Vaitkunas is still in the building
Atlantas spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.