Marked for Tomas Jankauskas
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
149 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Utenis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Hrvoje Sucic out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Utenis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Sep 2026
Utenis say no — this time
The offer from Zalgiris for Mantas Dubickas 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Utenis close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 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 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 Utenis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Utenis asked and Kauno Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Utenis out
Out, 0‑5 to Zalgiris, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Utenis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
A cup embarrassment at Zalgiris follows Utenis home
0-5. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Utenis
Saulius Cernych and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baranovichi have kept their man, and Utenis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Saulius Cernych
“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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Utenis dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 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 Utenis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Utenis
Tomas Jankauskas 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Utenis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Utenis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saulius 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 name of Mantas Slavickas has come up in conversations Utenis were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Utenis, and both men came out saying it was fine.