Marked for Darius Kuklys
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Travaglini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Mar 2029
0‑1 to Atlantas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Darius Kuklys 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.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Modestas Kuklys after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darius Kuklys, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Stumbras squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Market19 Mar 2029
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Ignas Klimavicius leaves Stumbras the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Jan 2029
Gonçalo Monteiro damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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 terraces29 Jan 2029
Anger at Stumbras 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
“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.
Market29 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stumbras people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
Pressure builds in the Stumbras boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Mouhamed Souare 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Kajus Bička 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 Jan 2029
The quietest bad news in football. At 23 nothing has moved for months — not backwards, which would at least be a conversation, simply nowhere. Somebody at the club will have to decide whether that is the club's fault or his.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
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 Christian Travaglini is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gonçalo Monteiro
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Jan 2029
22 days out for Petar Bosančić after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stumbras will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The terraces1 Jan 2029
The mood at Stumbras 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.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Stumbras
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market1 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Travaglini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Jan 2029
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.
Market1 Jan 2029
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stumbras has been clear about where Ernestas Gudelevicius stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
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 Christian Travaglini is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Sep 2028
Arvydas Jankauskas damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
“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 Sep 2028
Mouhamed Souare 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Travaglini 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Darius Kuklys commits to Stumbras for another 1 years.
Market11 Sep 2028
Ettore Innocenti is 20, and Stumbras have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Stumbras signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout11 Sep 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
“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
Market4 Sep 2028
Solomon Obed 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Stumbras until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Mouhamed Souare 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Stumbras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Stumbras will try again when the window opens; Atlantas may not be selling by then.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arvydas Kazlauskas 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darius Kuklys and Stumbras agree another 1 years.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitriy Guschenko, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Mar 2028
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market6 Mar 2028
Darius 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 Trakai can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Trakai may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Trakai
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tadas Vaitkunas and Trakai agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Trakai
Tadas Vaitkunas 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.
Market6 Mar 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tomas Girdvainis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market6 Mar 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tadas Cernych is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market6 Mar 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Modestas Barauskas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Trakai
Besar Halimi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
$22.0K 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leon Otto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
When it matters, Max Howells plays
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 dugout14 Feb 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Paulius Satkus has written the date down.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Trakai will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lachlin Lambert
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Feb 2028
“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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Trakai close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Besar Halimi 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 Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
The offer went to Suduva 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.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
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.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Trakai ran out of time with Atlantas. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tadas Vaitkunas 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 Feb 2028
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
Lachlin Lambert damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Market24 Jan 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 Trakai can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
The deal with Stumbras 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 targets24 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Suduva have kept their man, and Trakai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darius Dapkus and Trakai agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Dec 2027
Lachlin Lambert damages knee ligaments — 85 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Trakai
Paulius Satkus 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.
Market6 Dec 2027
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Tadas Vaitkunas 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.
Market6 Dec 2027
He is 17, and nobody at Trakai signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Trakai
Besar Halimi 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tadas Vaitkunas 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darius Kuklys, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Trakai offered $620.0K; Suduva 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Besar Halimi 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 Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Trakai ran out of time with Suduva. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tadas Vaitkunas 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Trakai are still strangers to each other
5 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.
The dugout13 Sep 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.
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.
Match13 Sep 2027
Trakai have something to play for
Position 4 on 21 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The offer went to Suduva 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Trakai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Trakai can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Trakai have made the call to Atlantas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deividas Mikoliunas 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 dugout30 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.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Max Howells has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Trakai 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Trakai lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Jun 2027
The season ends: position 4 for Trakai
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 21 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market14 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Trakai people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad14 Jun 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Samuel Sousa: 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.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market14 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Saulius Kuklys
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saulius Kuklys will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Jun 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 Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Karolis Vaitkunas is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.