Marked for Eduards Bulvitis
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 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 The request is on a desk at Jelgava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jelgava can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Adeyemo Bolaji 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
At 19 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Too much change too quickly at Jelgava
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Kristaps Oss
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
$540.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $540.0K sale of Vladimirs Zjuzins
He is going to Daugavpils, the club has $540.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market18 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Jelgava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Volna, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad18 Jan 2027
At 19 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Jelgava
Adeyemo Bolaji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Spartaks 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Jelgava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcis Fertovs 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vladimirs Vanins is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Jelgava have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
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 Jelgava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Eduards Bulvitis and Jelgava agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market11 Jan 2027
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Jelgava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Prokhorov 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Adeyemo Bolaji has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
At 19 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Jelgava
Adeyemo Bolaji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Vladimirs Vanins has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Jelgava will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Jelgava
Adeyemo Bolaji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Eduards Bulvitis is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Jelgava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raivis Ciganovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jelgava. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Davis Tarasovs asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Adeyemo Bolaji, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Jelgava
Adeyemo Bolaji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 18 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Marcis Fertovs 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 dugout28 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vladimirs Vanins is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 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 Jelgava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eduards Bulvitis and Jelgava agree another 3 years.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Raivis Ciganovs 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
Ramon Azeez has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ramon Azeez has written the date down.
Market21 Sep 2026
Jelgava have made Davis Vanins available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jelgava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Adeyemo Bolaji 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
Ramon Azeez gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Marcis Fertovs 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Jelgava would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.