Marked for Vykintas Klimavicius
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 May 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 The request is on a desk at Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović 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.
The terraces24 May 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match22 May 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Tomas Slavickas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Stumbras.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicola Camolese was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 May 2027
A mark of 7.67, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout24 May 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Aidas Simkus on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout24 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicola Camolese and Stumbras agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match1 May 2027
Zalgiris left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 May 2027
Nicola Camolese 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 dugout3 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.
The dugout3 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Aidas Simkus to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout3 May 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings3 May 2027
4.51. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Apr 2027
At last: Stumbras win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Siauliai. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Siauliai made Stumbras work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Promise Damala 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 watch19 Apr 2027
“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 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 7.74. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Aidas Simkus, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Looking ahead19 Apr 2027
A test against the best for Stumbras
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Suduva.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Apr 2027
Stumbras sink to position 6
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match10 Apr 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 16 actions, 7.25, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović 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
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicola Camolese 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
Stumbras caught on 85 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Kauno Zalgiris scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match10 Apr 2027
It needed Tomas Slavickas to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Kauno Zalgiris, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
There were 10 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
Kauno Zalgiris ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match3 Apr 2027
6 matches without a win for Stumbras
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Stumbras are no longer polite ones.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 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.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Promise Damala 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arvydas Kuklys and Stumbras agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Promise Damala 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 watch22 Feb 2027
“I watch every Stumbras game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Siauliai runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Promise Damala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Stumbras asked and Atlantas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Promise Damala 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
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Kauno Zalgiris, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad11 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.
Squad11 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The name of Tadas Satkus has come up in conversations Stumbras were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Promise Damala 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 28 days on the sidelines for Andrius Dapkus, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Nemanja Trifunović 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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Stumbras 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Promise Damala 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Kauno Zalgiris have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market4 Jan 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 Nicola Camolese.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Modestas Barauskas, and the manager let it.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Open for business: Stumbras enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomas 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stumbras, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
Nemanja Trifunović 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 Dec 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomas 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Josip Tadic, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Paulius Cernych out for 26 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.
Squad16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Nemanja Trifunović 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Promise Damala 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Tadas Satkus for 14 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Nicholas Pian is 20, and Stumbras have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Paulius Cernych out for 42 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Trifunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tomas Slavickas is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Eliosius
14 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Eliosius
21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Nemanja Trifunović 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
No place for Benjamin Jack in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Stumbras are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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 watch21 Sep 2026
3 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Paulius Cernych 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Stumbras close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Nemanja Trifunović 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Vykintas Klimavicius has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tomas Mikoliunas 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Vykintas Klimavicius.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stumbras people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Tomas Mikoliunas again, and this time the name on the line is Siauliai. Stumbras are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Vykintas Klimavicius 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“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
Match12 Aug 2026
Suduva ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market17 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Stumbras say no — this time
The offer from Fratria for Tomas Slavickas 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Stumbras are taken apart by Suduva — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Nemanja Trifunović 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trakai have kept their man, and Stumbras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Aug 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“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 Aug 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrius 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tadas Satkus commits to Stumbras for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ignas Slavickas 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Stumbras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Trifunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tadas Barauskas, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Stumbras will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Vykintas Klimavicius 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Kauno Zalgiris have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.