Marked for Arvydas Slavickas
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Stumbras
Mouhamed Souare and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Friday Apollos 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 dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Friday Apollos
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Davor Nedeljković
27 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.
Market20 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mantas Dubickas is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Mouhamed Souare asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Davor Nedeljković
76 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kauno Zalgiris waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stumbras is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Ilias Melkas out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stumbras will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Aug 2027
Utenis come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stumbras did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Kauno Zalgiris, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
96 days out for Ilias Melkas 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.
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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Kauno Zalgiris have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mantas Dapkus. The answer from Stumbras has not changed — yet.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stumbras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 Jun 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.
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mantas Dubickas is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Simon Dia is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Stumbras asked and Siauliai said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match14 Jun 2027
Full time on the season at Stumbras
Position 5 on 18 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Ilias Melkas out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stumbras will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
The dugout14 Jun 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
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.
Match12 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Stumbras's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Stumbras has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$390.0K on the table at Zalgiris. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Stumbras
Mouhamed Souare and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The medical room confirms 49 days on the sidelines for Edvinas Cernych, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
124 days out for Ilias Melkas 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Karolis Novikovas 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 terraces24 May 2027
He is 23 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 May 2027
Sven van Doorm 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout24 May 2027
A promise honoured at Stumbras
Something was said to Raymond Thomas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Marked 7.57 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Stumbras had the best player on the pitch.
Squad24 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sammy Henia-Kamau and Stumbras agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout24 May 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
Crisis
Match26 Apr 2027
Every point is an argument now for Stumbras
Position 6 and 8 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Stumbras's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Stumbras has to find a result from somewhere.
Match24 Apr 2027
Stumbras cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad26 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven van Doorm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Apr 2027
Stumbras at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 6, 8 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout26 Apr 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
Market11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Andrius Slavickas again, and this time the name on the line is Utenis. Stumbras are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Stumbras asked and Atlantas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 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 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arvydas Slavickas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adrien Liprandi and Stumbras agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arvydas Slavickas and Stumbras agree another 3 years.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Eduards 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arvydas Slavickas 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
Squad14 Dec 2026
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Dec 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
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Arvydas Kazlauskas 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Arvydas Slavickas 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Mantas Dubickas
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Stumbras out
Out, 1‑4 to Suduva, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
A cup embarrassment at Suduva follows Stumbras home
1-4. 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market17 Aug 2026
Stumbras pay Zalgiris $79.0K for a proper upgrade
Zalgiris did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $79.0K for Petar Bosančić, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Arvydas Kazlauskas 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
Mantas Dapkus 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arvydas Slavickas, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Stumbras 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
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.