Marked for Ignas Simkus
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Nov 2027
William Kaastrup 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Andrius Cernych 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 watch22 Nov 2027
“I watch every Stumbras game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Utenis runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
William Kaastrup 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrius 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Nov 2027
Stumbras are in real trouble now
Position 6, 13 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.
Market1 Nov 2027
Andrius Dapkus has one foot out of the door
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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Modestas Satkus 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
William Kaastrup 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 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mario Qaka and Stumbras agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market1 Nov 2027
He is 18, and nobody at Stumbras signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
William Kaastrup 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Modestas Satkus 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
Match4 Oct 2027
Stumbras are in real trouble now
Position 6, 13 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
Andrius Dapkus has one foot out of the door
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.
Squad4 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deividas 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.
Market20 Sep 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Modestas Satkus may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Aug 2027
The paperwork is done: Andrius Cernych joins from Utenis in a deal worth $72.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad23 Aug 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Modestas Satkus
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deividas 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Stumbras has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market23 Aug 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Modestas Satkus may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
William Kaastrup 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 Jul 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 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.
Squad28 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartłomiej Kolec 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
Match5 Jun 2027
Nowhere to hide for Utenis
0‑3 against Zalgiris, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Arnas Valskis out for 99 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 Jun 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 Utenis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Fiodor Paulauskas again, and this time the name on the line is Suduva. Utenis are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Utenis
Karolis Vaitkunas 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 Jun 2027
“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 Utenis know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 May 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.
Match29 May 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Darius Dapkus was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartłomiej Kolec 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Taha Alemi runs at them all day
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.
Squad31 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
Uneasy
Match31 May 2027
Utenis sink to position 7
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad31 May 2027
A fracture rules Arnas Valskis out for 106 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.
Market31 May 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 Utenis can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 May 2027
Leomir in a row with a teammate
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.
Match29 May 2027
Atlantas made Utenis work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Ninety minutes of Karolis Vaitkunas at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Utenis.
Squad31 May 2027
Darius 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.
Squad31 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alfie Henderson and Utenis agree another 3 years.
Market31 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fiodor Paulauskas may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 May 2027
The wait goes on for Utenis
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match8 May 2027
Nowhere to hide for Utenis
2‑7 against Suduva, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad10 May 2027
A fracture rules Arnas Valskis out for 127 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.
Market10 May 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.
Squad10 May 2027
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.
Squad10 May 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Utenis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad10 May 2027
36 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match8 May 2027
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Utenis and Suduva in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match8 May 2027
Utenis are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Utenis
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market12 Apr 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 Utenis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Ignas Simkus, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad12 Apr 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Leomir in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Utenis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Utenis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anton Yevdokymov 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Atlantas leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market12 Apr 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Utenis, another week without a signature from Lourenço Borges.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match31 Mar 2027
Utenis bow out of the cup
Zalgiris go through and Utenis go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match5 Apr 2027
Every point is an argument now for Utenis
Position 7 and 1 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.
Market5 Apr 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 Utenis can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 Apr 2027
7 matches without a win for Utenis
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Utenis are no longer polite ones.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
A cup hiding at Zalgiris leaves Utenis explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Utenis
Karolis Vaitkunas 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
Trakai left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
A fracture rules William Kaastrup out for 43 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
A 2-goal lead gone for Stumbras
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Trakai kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Stumbras will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.94 beside his name.
Match13 Mar 2027
Darius Dapkus scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Trakai, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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 Stumbras know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules William Kaastrup out for 78 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Fiodor Sernas hands in a written request
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
William Kaastrup 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Linas Paulauskas 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Stumbras
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market8 Feb 2027
Stumbras opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Linas Paulauskas stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules William Kaastrup out for 94 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.
Market25 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.
Market25 Jan 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The fee is $84.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Utenis drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Stumbras spend $84.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $84.0K for Aidas Slavickas, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“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 Stumbras know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Utenis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Saulius Sernas. The answer from Stumbras has not changed — yet.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Tomas Dapkus for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Stumbras will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Linas Paulauskas 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The Ignas Simkus conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Utenis will make the call about Ignas Simkus this week. Stumbras have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stumbras has been clear about where Lukas Mikoliunas stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Utenis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ignas Simkus. The answer from Stumbras has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Andrius Dapkus out for 73 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 Nov 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Nov 2026
William Kaastrup 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Utenis will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ignas Kuklys has pre-agreed a move to Stumbras, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Loan watch2 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 Stumbras, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
6 new faces, and Stumbras 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ignas Sernas 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rokas Novikovas commits to Atlantas for another 3 years.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Andrius Girdvainis 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
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Andrius Dapkus out for 101 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.
Market5 Oct 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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Kaastrup 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 watch5 Oct 2026
“I watch every Stumbras game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atlantas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Stumbras
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ignas Sernas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kostadin Iliev 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
Squad7 Sep 2026
Saulius Dapkus damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Andrius Dapkus breaks a bone — 132 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 132 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Linas Paulauskas 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
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
Stumbras say no — this time
The offer from Atlantas for Ignas Simkus 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The fee is $130.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Kauno Zalgiris drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Stumbras spend $130.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $130.0K for Tautvydas Burdzilauskas, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Linas Paulauskas 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
Stumbras bow out of the cup
Suduva go through and Stumbras go home, 3‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market17 Aug 2026
Suduva 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Stumbras and Suduva in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Linas Paulauskas 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.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Linas Paulauskas, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Beaten 5 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Karolis Jankauskas commits to Stumbras for another 3 years.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 8. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.