0‑4. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Kaspars Oss 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 Sep 2028
Philip Ejike 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Raivis Jurkovskis after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
In brief
The dugoutNo place for Raivis Dubra on the big day
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Philip Ejike is living that version at Skonto, and it tends to show in the first month.
Skonto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Toulouse FC, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Kaspars Oss and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philip Ejike 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
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.
8 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The clock did what Liepaja would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Ben Drake 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Raivis Dubra
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Jelgava waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
Kaspars Oss 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.
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.
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 Alvis Jaunzems is on it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spartaks waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Skonto asked and Eldense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Gaël Delplanque again, and this time the name on the line is Jelgava. Skonto are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ben Drake 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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Liepaja waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Skonto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Position 2, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
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.
Skonto asked and Austria Lustenau said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaspars Ciganovs 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kaspars Tarasovs provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Skonto people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Kaspars Oss 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.
Skonto asked and Flora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ben Drake 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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Skonto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Skonto have gone to Liepaja with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaspars Ciganovs 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.
Something was said to Alvis Jaunzems and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Skonto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“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.
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.
Skonto asked and Bravo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ben Drake 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.
Position 2, 20 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The offer from Liepaja for Pavels Zjuzins 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.
“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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pavels Ciganovs. 2‑0 against Jelgava, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 rules permit it and it stings anyway. Emmanuel Nnaji has agreed terms with Liepaja for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Pavels Zjuzins 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.
Everybody at Skonto saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad29 May 2028
Łukasz Wiech 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Skonto told Emmanuel Nnaji something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
“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.
Squad22 May 2028
Ben Drake 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.
A mark of 7.94, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout22 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Raivis Jurkovskis, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Kaspars Tarasovs decided nobody was going anywhere. Ventspils had no time left to answer.
Pavels Zjuzins 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.
Ventspils made Skonto work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ben Drake 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Alvis Jaunzems is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Raivis Jurkovskis could afford to be generous.
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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Godwin, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raivis Dubra 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Kaspars Oss 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Skonto has been clear about where Pavels Zjuzins stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ben Drake was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Raivis Jurkovskis after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAlvis Jaunzems has become a man the manager trusts
Kaspars Oss 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.
6 goals in one match, Kaspars Tarasovs on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Skonto and Daugavpils.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Skonto has been clear about where Kaspars Oss stands, which is more than many ever get.
At 22 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.
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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcis Ciganovs 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.
Something was said to Kaspars Oss and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
37 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcis Ciganovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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 Pavels Ciganovs is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Skonto, another week without a signature from Kaspars Ciganovs.
12 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
44 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pavels Ciganovs provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Kaspars Oss 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raivis Dubra 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 words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
Kaspars Oss and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raivis Dubra 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.
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 Kaspars Tarasovs is on it.
“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.
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Skonto will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcis Ciganovs 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.
6 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
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.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Skonto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
$210.0K settles it between the clubs for Kelvin Leku
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Kano Pillars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marcis Rugins is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovan Liberec have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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.
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.
31 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liepaja have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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.
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.
He is 31, he is from here, and the shirt he was raised to wear has gone to somebody bought for it. The academy staff have noticed, and so has the town.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Pavels Zjuzins’s exile
39 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Skonto scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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.
The deal with Krasnodar 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.
Skonto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bari, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Spartaks were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Skonto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Skonto have done the hard part with Bari, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Pavels Ciganovs 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Krasnodar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Sofia have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcis Ciganovs 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.
Kaspars Oss 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Raivis Dubra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Skonto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Virtus Entella, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
At 23 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hércules have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Skonto have made the call to Bendel Insurance. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Pavels Ciganovs is on it.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Matteo Carbone did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Skonto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Viktoria Plzen, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Skonto and Ventspils in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
24 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Skonto asked and Nyíregyháza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Pavels Zjuzins 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.
A loan enquiry to Kauno Zalgiris: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A loan enquiry to Athletic Bilbao: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
90 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.
Ventspils go through and Skonto go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Kaspars Oss 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.
A mark of 7.62, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Raivis Jurkovskis was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Skonto dressing room was either.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marcis Rugins 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.