The Skonto Gazette
Squad16 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Davis Dubra
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Skonto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Skonto
Moustapha Diaw 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 targets16 Aug 2027
Skonto rebuffed over Roger Andretty
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Celje have kept their man, and Skonto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Skonto lose Alvis Jagodinskis
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavels 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Skonto ask about Lirim Kastrati
A loan enquiry to Kauno 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
No hiding place for ThankGod Ekawu
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to ThankGod Ekawu, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
When it matters, Pavels Fertovs 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Taofeek Otaniyi 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 Skonto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
- Match Continental football is in reach for Skonto
- Market Talks stall between Skonto and Fatjon Andoni