Marked for Darius Eliosius
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Market23 Aug 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Čakovan 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
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 targets23 Aug 2027
A loan enquiry to Zalgiris: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adam Aït Ali Oulhaj, and the manager let it.
Market23 Aug 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Saulius Barauskas has his answer from Stumbras; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market23 Aug 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stumbras, another week without a signature from Marius Klimavicius.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Aidas Cernych: 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.” Stumbras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market26 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Čakovan 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
“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
Uneasy
Market28 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 Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Tomas Dapkus: 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.” Stumbras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tomas Paulauskas 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karolis Kuklys 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout28 Jun 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
Match29 May 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Kauno Zalgiris, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
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 Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Squad31 May 2027
Luka Čakovan 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.
Looking ahead31 May 2027
A six-pointer for Stumbras
Siauliai next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout31 May 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Stefan Marjanović will call it something else in private.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Mantas Lasickas to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout31 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
Squad17 May 2027
25 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.
Match15 May 2027
The wait goes on for Stumbras
9 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.
Squad17 May 2027
There were 7 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stumbras may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karolis Kuklys was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Stumbras can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match15 May 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Atlantas leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout17 May 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
39 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Uros Rajkovic breaks a bone — 14 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match1 May 2027
No end in sight to Stumbras's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Stumbras has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 May 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.
Match1 May 2027
1‑2 to Zalgiris, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Čakovan 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.
Looking ahead3 May 2027
A six-pointer for Stumbras
Trakai next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout3 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 Mantas Lasickas left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Karolis Kuklys's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.