Marked for Marius Girdvainis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Marius Girdvainis again, and this time the name on the line is Suduva. Stumbras are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Hunter Olson 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
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
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Stumbras would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marius Girdvainis commits to Stumbras for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Hunter Olson 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Atlantas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Darius Dubickas. The answer from Stumbras has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabián Ramos 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Fabián Ramos
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. Stumbras will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market10 Aug 2026
Karolis Valskis is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stumbras has been clear about where Karolis Valskis stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Marius Girdvainis 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Cernych 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
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Justas Lasickas has his answer from Stumbras; what he does with it is the next window’s story.