Marked for Mantas Dapkus
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
Stumbras say no — this time
The offer from Trakai for Mantas Dapkus 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.
Market4 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sven van Doorm commits to Stumbras for another 2 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlantas have kept their man, and Stumbras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mantas Dapkus, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Atlantas: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Justas Eliosius is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad4 Jan 2027
This league is too small for Sven van Doorm
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Stumbras will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
In brief
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Market
Justas Dapkus told to find a new club
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Market
Experience through the door at Stumbras
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Boardroom
Open for business: Stumbras enter the window
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Eduards Zjuzins 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 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mantas Dapkus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Rokas Slavickas 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
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mantas Dapkus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Moussa Sao
“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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Alvis Rugins 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
The clock does Arvydas Satkus’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Stumbras could ask drops and the wages Arvydas Satkus can ask rise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Questions about Tomas Mikoliunas on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Arvydas Satkus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arvydas Satkus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stumbras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mantas Dapkus 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Everybody at Stumbras 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 17 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mantas Dapkus 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.
Squad5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Moussa Sao and Stumbras agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market5 Oct 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market5 Oct 2026
Stumbras bring in an old head
Moussa Sao is 37 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
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mantas Dapkus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Stumbras
Arvydas Kazlauskas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arvydas Satkus, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 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 Stumbras, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Sep 2026
Stumbras have made Andrius Satkus available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market28 Sep 2026
The clock does Alvis Rugins’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Stumbras could ask drops and the wages Alvis Rugins can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Sep 2026
Only the photograph left for Arvydas Satkus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arvydas Satkus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stumbras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Arvydas Satkus has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad21 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 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 Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mantas Dapkus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Stumbras will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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 Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Sep 2026
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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 4 in, 2 out at Stumbras
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mantas Dapkus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Justas Dapkus 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Arvydas Kazlauskas is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Stumbras
Arvydas Kazlauskas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Atlantas 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.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Squad24 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Atlantas: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Stumbras would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Zalgiris 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arvydas Kazlauskas commits to Stumbras for another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Stumbras
Arvydas Kazlauskas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Stumbras have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Stumbras will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Atlantas have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arvydas Kazlauskas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Stumbras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mantas Dapkus 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
Add another name to the list: Siauliai have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Arnas Cernych. The answer from Stumbras has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Kauno Zalgiris have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market3 Aug 2026
Alvis Rugins is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stumbras has been clear about where Alvis Rugins stands, which is more than many ever get.