Marked for Peter Kucka
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Apr 2028
Jack Aitchison has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FK Senica they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jack Aitchison 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at FK Senica
Elton Vata 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Jakub Cerny 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 watch10 Apr 2028
“I watch every FK Senica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS Trencin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
When it matters, Ján Murgaš plays
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.
Market10 Apr 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Petr Zeleny’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at FK Senica
Albert Strelec 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Mindombe commits to FK Senica for another 3 years.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at FK Senica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Cerny 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 watch13 Mar 2028
“I watch every FK Senica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS Trencin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“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.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
When it matters, Ján Murgaš plays
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
Squad24 Jan 2028
Pablo González damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
“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 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Trencin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with FK Senica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Samuel Gidi 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 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Podbrezova have kept their man, and AS Trencin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Richard Križan 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 dugout24 Jan 2028
Adrián Fiala 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 Adrián Fiala trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matúš Sláviček, and the manager let it.