Marked for Ignas Simkus
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 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 Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Žygimantas Baltrūnas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Sep 2027
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juliusz Rafalski, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Trakai will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market27 Sep 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Sep 2027
Every point is an argument now for Trakai
Position 7 and 12 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Veljko Bogićević arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Veljko Bogićević has, at Trakai, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Trakai until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad6 Sep 2027
41 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Trakai have done the hard part with Atlantas, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Trakai
Nikola Stojković 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Žygimantas Baltrūnas 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 dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Duarte Oliveira
“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.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
The goals keep arriving from Donatas Kuklys’s exile
6 goals in 15 games at Nomme Kalju — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Trakai updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Aug 2027
Atlantas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Trakai did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Suduva, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Trakai
Innokentiy Yermakov 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
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Trakai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Trakai may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Fee done, terms next for Ignas Plūkas
Trakai and Suduva have settled on $44.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
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 Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Nikola Stojković 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 targets19 Jul 2027
Trakai asked and 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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Edgaras Dubickas is on it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ignas Simkus, and the manager let it.
Market19 Jul 2027
Trakai have let the market know Marko Stanković can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 May 2027
8 matches without a win for Trakai
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Trakai are no longer polite ones.
The dugout31 May 2027
Ignas Simkus: 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.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Trakai
Innokentiy Yermakov 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Stojković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 May 2027
A bad afternoon for Trakai against Utenis
1‑2 to Utenis, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavle Bekonja, and the manager let it.
Squad31 May 2027
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Karolis Eliosius left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout31 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Stanković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arvydas Slavickas
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Trakai
Nikola Stojković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Stanković 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 ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Karolis Eliosius was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Trakai dressing room was either.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Danko Kiković knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Danko Kiković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Ignas Simkus gets it from the manager
“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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Trakai and Utenis cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Utenis came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.