Marked for Darius Simkus
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
Darius Vaitkunas: 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.” Siauliai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Siauliai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Rokas Lekiatas 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
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Siauliai that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Darius Simkus joins up with his country. Siauliai lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Market6 Sep 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Vykintas Valskis leaves Siauliai the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Siauliai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Kevin Díaz 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Siauliai bring in an old head
Yuriy Kendysh is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomas Slavickas, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
This league is too small for Rokas Lekiatas
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. Siauliai will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A new face in his position, and Darius Simkus suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Siauliai have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Jul 2027
The cup run ends for Siauliai
2‑2 against Stumbras, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Arvydas Vaitkunas: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Siauliai may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Kevin Díaz 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A performance of 9.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edvinas Dapkus, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
Trakai come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Siauliai did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market21 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Kevin Díaz 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
Kevin Díaz 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Stumbras are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Siauliai will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Darius Simkus joins up with his country. Siauliai lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Jun 2027
Siauliai are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 21 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad7 Jun 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Jun 2027
A 4‑2 win over Trakai, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
A performance of 9.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Marked 9.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Marked 9.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
A performance of 9.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A season average of 7.31 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad7 Jun 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
Match29 May 2027
No end in sight to Siauliai's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Siauliai has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad31 May 2027
Kevin Díaz 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
A performance of 8.79 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Kevin Díaz runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 May 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Stumbras leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Squad31 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edvinas Kazlauskas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings31 May 2027
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Siauliai had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad10 May 2027
Kevin Díaz 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 May 2027
Kauno Zalgiris left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 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.
Squad10 May 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 Siauliai know it.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Kevin Díaz runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad3 May 2027
Kevin Díaz 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
A performance of 8.60 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad3 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Saulius Barauskas commits to Siauliai for another 4 years.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kevin Díaz 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Nobody could get near Kevin Díaz
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Apr 2027
Three points for Siauliai, 1‑0 the final word against Trakai in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad19 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Apr 2027
4‑1, and Edvinas Kazlauskas took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Siauliai tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match12 Apr 2027
Siauliai up to position 3
10 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Kevin Díaz 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Siauliai know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fiodor Simkus commits to Siauliai for another 3 years.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 9.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.78, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
One of those days for Kevin Díaz
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Brahyan Montenegro 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darius Simkus, and the manager let it.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match27 Mar 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Brahyan Montenegro commits to Siauliai for another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Mar 2027
A 3‑2 win over Atlantas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A performance of 9.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.92, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
One of those days for Kevin Díaz
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad8 Mar 2027
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rati Grigalava, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Arvydas Vaitkunas 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 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Fiodor Valskis knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Siauliai, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
Arvydas Vaitkunas 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.97, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darius Simkus, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.40 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Kevin Díaz
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. Siauliai will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Siauliai have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Market17 Aug 2026
Arnas Cernych is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Siauliai has been clear about where Arnas Cernych stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Siauliai say no — this time
The offer from Stumbras for Arvydas Vaitkunas 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.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
72 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Darius Simkus and Siauliai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Brahyan Montenegro 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.
Squad10 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
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Edvinas Kazlauskas and Siauliai agree another 2 years.
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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Darius Simkus 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 Darius Simkus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.