Ignas Simkus

Goalkeeper - Utenis
4 Oct 2026
Sunday
Process

Marked for Ignas Simkus

3 Edition

The Utenis Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Utenis out of the cup

Zalgiris ended it 1‑5. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.

The terraces

A cup hiding at Zalgiris leaves Utenis explaining themselves

1-5, 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.

Squad

Nikita Krasnov 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.

Match

Mantas Lasickas among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Mantas Lasickas on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Utenis and Zalgiris.

Market

Business is business: Vikintas Novikovas goes

Siauliai paid $4.0K and Utenis took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Squad

No hiding place for Arvydas Simkus

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arvydas Simkus, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Mantas Sernas ran the middle of the pitch — 6.65

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.65, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Utenis 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mantas Lasickas

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

Back issues
2 Edition

The Utenis Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Mantas Sernas signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mantas Sernas commits to Utenis for another 3 years.

Squad

Nikita Krasnov 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.

Squad

Ignas Simkus 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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Utenis Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Deividas Barauskas 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 Utenis can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Utenis

Mantas 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.

Squad

Words at Utenis training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Simkus 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.

Market

Zalgiris watching Rokas Dubickas

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Utenis have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Arvydas Barauskas stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Arvydas Barauskas and Utenis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

This league is too small for Nikita Krasnov

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. Utenis will not keep him by pretending otherwise.

In brief