Marked for Kaspars Laizans
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
14 days out for Pavels Stolcers after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Skonto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Skonto
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Skonto is running low.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Kaspars Laizans: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Skonto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Olegs Stolcers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Nov 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 Skonto know it.
Squad29 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 Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 2027
35 days out for Pavels Stolcers after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Skonto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market8 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Skonto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Davis Rugins 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Damjan Pavlović 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.
Squad8 Nov 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; Skonto are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Abdulrafiu Taiwo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Skonto 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 dugout8 Nov 2027
Olegs Stolcers asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Victoir Lembi N'Zelo, and the manager let it.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Skonto pull $1.9M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
64 days out for Pavels Stolcers after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Skonto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Skonto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Oct 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 Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ikenna Motors was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Oct 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 Skonto know it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdulrafiu Taiwo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kaspars Laizans will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Skonto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Davis Rugins 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Damjan Pavlović 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 targets13 Sep 2027
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Olegs Cauna and Skonto agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout13 Sep 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.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Olegs Stolcers asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Aurèle Schel 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Daugavpils waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad6 Sep 2027
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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 28 in, 15 out at Skonto
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 28 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Skonto
Davis Rugins 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Luís Sampaio is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damjan Pavlović 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 targets6 Sep 2027
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.
Market6 Sep 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Jelgava to sit and watch. I want to come back to Skonto and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 34 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Aug 2027
Skonto are in real trouble now
Position 6, 12 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market23 Aug 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Skonto may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market23 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Skonto
Ifeagwu Ojukwu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Skonto asked and Spartaks said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Olegs Stolcers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
A loan enquiry to Liepaja: 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
Squad9 Aug 2027
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Skonto lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Skonto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Skonto have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Ifeagwu Ojukwu pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Luton Town keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The offer went to Liepaja this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Skonto asked and Catania said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market9 Aug 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
Pavels Stolcers damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Match26 Jul 2027
Skonto are in real trouble now
Position 6, 12 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match21 Jul 2027
Skonto bow out of the cup
Spartaks go through and Skonto go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Jul 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.
Match21 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Skonto
7 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.
Match21 Jul 2027
The goals have deserted Skonto
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Skonto can tell you which week it ends in.
Market26 Jul 2027
Skonto say no — this time
The offer from Daugavpils for Kaspars Laizans 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Liepaja wanted more than $890.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Skonto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Daugavpils waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Ikenna Motors: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Skonto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Davis Rugins and Skonto agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Skonto
Davis Rugins 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 targets12 Jul 2027
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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Olegs Stolcers 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 dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Jurkovskis, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Jul 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 Skonto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Skonto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market5 Jul 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 Skonto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$940.0K settles it between the clubs for Ingars Pūlis
Liepaja have accepted the money. What Skonto do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market5 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Skonto they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Skonto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ifeagwu Ojukwu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bari have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout5 Jul 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Daugavpils will make the call about Kaspars Laizans this week. Skonto have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Skonto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ventspils waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Jun 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
No thanks: David Idowu rejects the move
Skonto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Arda, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Skonto
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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 targets21 Jun 2027
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 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Olegs Stolcers 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcis Fertovs commits to Skonto for another 3 years.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan move for Juri Kirchmayr is in the works
Skonto have made the call to Stripfing. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Skonto's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Skonto has to find a result from somewhere.
Market14 Jun 2027
Ventspils come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Skonto did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match12 Jun 2027
Skonto cannot find the net
5 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The deal with Arda 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 targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arda have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Skonto
Davis Rugins 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Ventspils left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Olegs Stolcers 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.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Mory Cissé
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The dugout
Davis Oss: “No excuses”
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Squad
4 Skonto players away with their countries
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Kaspars Laizans damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Rachid Moumini: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Skonto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Alvis Jaunzems 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
It needed Kaspars Laizans to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Liepaja, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Half-satisfied: Davis Oss 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Joaquim Marques
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Kristaps Dubra
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alvis Ikaunieks will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Skonto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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 targets15 Feb 2027
Skonto asked and Notts County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Davis Rugins in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Skonto game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ventspils runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Davis Rugins gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Davis Rugins is on it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Skonto would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Jurkovskis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Feb 2027
Skonto spent the window trying to move Kaspars Laizans on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market25 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 Skonto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Skonto asked and Turan Tovuz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Kristaps Dubra 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Koper: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Skonto are still strangers to each other
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
This league is too small for Rachid Moumini
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Skonto will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdulrafiu Taiwo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The paperwork begins on Mory Cissé
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Skonto have done the hard part with Liepaja, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Skonto have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikita Vanins and Skonto agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Skonto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavels Stolcers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market4 Jan 2027
Ventspils are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Skonto will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market4 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kaspars Laizans has his answer from Skonto; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Pavels Dubra breaks a bone — 29 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Skonto
Kristaps Dubra 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.