Marked for Marius Mikoliunas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Mar 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vykintas Lasickas
50 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stumbras may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Paulius Lasickas and Stumbras agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Graduation day at Stumbras
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market6 Mar 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vikintas Barauskas 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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tomas Klimavicius has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market6 Mar 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aidas Kazlauskas 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marius 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Nov 2027
Paulius 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
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.
Market29 Nov 2027
The loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at Stumbras no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Oct 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Darius Simkus commits to Stumbras for another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Sep 2027
Fiodor Simkus damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Market13 Sep 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Sep 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Zalgiris to sit and watch. I want to come back to Stumbras and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
Fiodor Simkus damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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 Sep 2027
Saulius Eliosius 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Arseny Kerzhakov has just signed for Stumbras, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad6 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
Stumbras opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Mantas Slavickas stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Market6 Sep 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Arseny Kerzhakov arrives at Stumbras with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
Justas Cernych damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Market16 Aug 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
“I did not go to Zalgiris to sit and watch. I want to come back to Stumbras and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Donatas Kuklys 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 Stumbras, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stumbras they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Saulius Eliosius 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
Saulius Eliosius damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Squad21 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jun 2027
Saulius Eliosius 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Saulius Eliosius 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Trakai are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Stumbras will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Saulius Eliosius damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stumbras may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Saulius Eliosius
119 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A brace, and Tomas Simkus takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tomas Simkus provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stumbras may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Tomas 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
A 2‑0 win over Atlantas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vykintas Lasickas, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Andrius Kazlauskas 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Nicolás Maturana 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
31 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.