Marked for Aidas Paulauskas
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rokas Cernych
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Siauliai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Aug 2027
Siauliai say no — this time
The offer from Utenis for Saulius Slavickas 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Siauliai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market23 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Siauliai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Siauliai know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Aug 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Match23 Aug 2027
Utenis are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 26 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market23 Aug 2027
Utenis get their man
The chase for Aidas Paulauskas ended with $45.0K changing hands and Siauliai out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
Utenis spend $45.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $45.0K for Aidas Paulauskas, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad23 Aug 2027
René Zia 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rokas Cernych
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Siauliai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Siauliai can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Lucas Vankerkhoven 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Siauliai will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Aug 2027
Siauliai are in real trouble now
Position 6, 17 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Lucas Vankerkhoven 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Utenis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aidas Paulauskas. The answer from Siauliai has not changed — yet.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Donatas 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Arvydas Sernas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
“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 Siauliai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad19 Jul 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Saulius Slavickas 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.
Loan watch12 Jul 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Siauliai, and 4 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for Siauliai
Position 6 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 Siauliai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ignas Paulauskas commits to Siauliai for another 2 years.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Aidas Paulauskas has come up in conversations Siauliai were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mantas Barauskas 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 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 Siauliai can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Deividas Kuklys: 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.” Siauliai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Jun 2027
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mantas Barauskas 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.
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Siauliai, and 4 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Market14 Jun 2027
Stumbras are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Siauliai will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Siauliai told Mantas Girdvainis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 May 2027
2 behind and going nowhere, until Fiodor Cernych decided otherwise. Stumbras had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Player ratings31 May 2027
No sign of nerves from Fiodor Cernych at 21 — 8.65
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fiodor Cernych did not need any: 8.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 May 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Siauliai
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad31 May 2027
At 21, Fiodor Cernych is already the best thing here
An average of 7.05 in a first team he is several years too young for. Siauliai have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad31 May 2027
Saulius Slavickas 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.
Match29 May 2027
Stumbras made Siauliai work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces31 May 2027
At 23 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A debut Fiodor Cernych will not forget — 8.74
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 2 on the scoresheet, 8.74 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Match6 Mar 2027
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Atlantas had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Siauliai did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Lucas Vankerkhoven 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Graduation day at Siauliai
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.
Match6 Mar 2027
It finished 3‑2, and it was Fiodor Cernych’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Siauliai.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Edvinas Simkus and Siauliai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
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.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aidas Simkus 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Saulius Cernych 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mantas Barauskas 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mantas Barauskas 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.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Siauliai, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Atlantas moved on, Aidas Paulauskas reports back to Siauliai, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Fiodor Lasickas 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Justas Jankauskas and Siauliai agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Mantas Barauskas 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.
Squad1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
7 new faces, and Siauliai are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market1 Feb 2027
Ignas Sernas is 18, and Siauliai 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Atlantas are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Siauliai will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market1 Feb 2027
Siauliai bring in an old head
Edvinas Sernas is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 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 Siauliai can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Saulius Slavickas 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Edvinas Kazlauskas again, and this time the name on the line is Zalgiris. Siauliai are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edvinas Simkus
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Siauliai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Dec 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mantas Barauskas 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Edvinas Simkus damages knee ligaments — 68 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
Squad9 Nov 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Siauliai, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edvinas Simkus
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Siauliai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Edvinas Simkus 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
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edvinas Simkus
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Siauliai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Gomel moved on, Saulius Slavickas reports back to Siauliai, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mantas Barauskas 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Siauliai
0‑1 against Trakai, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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
Saulius Slavickas 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for Deividas Kuklys, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siauliai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 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 Siauliai can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Edvinas Simkus 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.