Marked for Ignas Cernych
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arvydas Dapkus 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stumbras, another week without a signature from Ignas Cernych.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market19 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Ignas Cernych
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ignas Cernych will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stumbras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lukas Simkus 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mantas Girdvainis 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
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Paulius Valskis out for 125 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stumbras will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Lukas Simkus 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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 Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Modestas 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.
Squad7 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lukas Simkus 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Modestas 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darius Jankauskas and Stumbras agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Stumbras out
Out, 1‑5 to Suduva, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Stumbras are taken apart by Suduva — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Suduva have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ignas Cernych. The answer from Stumbras has not changed — yet.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Lukas Simkus 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Lukas Simkus among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Lukas Simkus on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Stumbras and Suduva.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lukas Simkus 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Tomas Kuklys 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Lukas Simkus 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomas Kuklys and Stumbras agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arvydas Dapkus 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.