Marked for Gatis Stolcers
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Mar 2029
Chastening afternoon for Spartaks
A 1‑4 beating by Skonto was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market19 Mar 2029
Daniel Suško hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartaks can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Still nobody in the Spartaks dugout
14 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Daniel Suško
“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.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Roberts Dubra to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Looking ahead19 Mar 2029
A test against the best for Spartaks
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 Liepaja.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Gatis Stolcers: 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.” Spartaks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Market12 Mar 2029
“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 Spartaks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartaks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
7 academy graduates step up at Spartaks
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ayom Majok 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.
Market12 Mar 2029
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Raivis Bulvitis has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartaks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Spartaks offered $710.0K; Liepaja said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aleksandrs Cauna commits to Spartaks for another 3 years.
Market12 Feb 2029
The shirt still fits. Raivis Skrebels is back at Spartaks, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Ayom Majok 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Spartaks
Kristaps Cauna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Nikita Dubra has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Nikita Dubra keeps the shirt for now, at Spartaks's convenience rather than his own.
Market12 Feb 2029
Spartaks spent the window trying to move Gatis Stolcers on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 2029
“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.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Fee done, terms next for Raivis Cauna
Spartaks and Ventspils have settled on $110.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartaks can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Amadou Bamba 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 targets29 Jan 2029
Spartaks asked and Jelgava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Spartaks
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ayom Majok was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ayom Majok, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Jan 2029
59 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
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 Eduards Vanins is on it.
In brief
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Match
Spartaks in the hunt for Europe
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Market
The shop window has Uri Lima in it
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The dugout
Uri Lima knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartaks can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Spartaks
Aleksandrs Cauna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Eduards Vanins
“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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market1 Jan 2029
Gatis Stolcers is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Spartaks has been clear about where Gatis Stolcers stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Spartaks are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Oct 2028
Daniel Suško hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartaks can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Oct 2028
The medical room confirms 55 days on the sidelines for Temitope Adaralegbe, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Eduards Vanins 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Gatis Stolcers
“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
Steady
Market25 Sep 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.
Market25 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartaks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduards Vanins 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 dugout25 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Spartaks
João Vale and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Nikita Dubra gets picked when it counts
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 Nikita Dubra is on it.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Gatis Stolcers 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 Gatis Stolcers trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market25 Sep 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Daniel Suško may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Spartaks would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Aug 2028
Yegor Bulgakov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartaks they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduards Vanins 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartaks can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout14 Aug 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arturs Cauna and Spartaks agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
A loan move for Amar Haïdara is in the works
Spartaks have made the call to Liepaja. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
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 dugout14 Aug 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartaks, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Spartaks people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Liepaja; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Yegor Bulgakov 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 targets24 Jul 2028
Spartaks offered $40.0K; Jelgava said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Davis Kamess for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Spartaks will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristaps Stolcers 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
Market3 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Yegor Bulgakov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yegor Bulgakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartaks the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Spartaks
Yegor Bulgakov 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Spartaks
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduards Vanins was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Intake day at the Spartaks academy
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Ryan Benhaddane
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ryan Benhaddane has come out of that comparison in the side, and Spartaks have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gatis Stolcers, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The deal with Jelgava is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jelgava have kept their man, and Spartaks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Suško 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
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 dugout26 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Rúben Cabral
“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
Crisis
Squad1 May 2028
Marcis Fertovs damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Match29 Apr 2028
6 matches without a win for Spartaks
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Spartaks are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 May 2028
A one-man rearguard from Kristen Lapa
There were 6 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.
Match29 Apr 2028
Yegor Bulgakov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Metta/LU, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Eduards Vanins 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.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout1 May 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Igors Jurkovskis after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout1 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Apr 2028
Gatis Tarasovs damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kristen Lapa and Spartaks agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Spartaks
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Suško was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Apr 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
Market3 Apr 2028
Iļja Korotkovs is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Spartaks has been clear about where Iļja Korotkovs stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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
The drought breaks for Spartaks
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Jelgava were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Match22 May 2027
Three points for Spartaks, 1‑0 the final word against Jelgava in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 May 2027
Roberts Gabovs 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 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodolphe Ekou, and the manager let it.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberts Zjuzins 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 dugout24 May 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Igors Jurkovskis could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartaks lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartaks can pretend not to have heard.
Match8 May 2027
4 matches without a win for Spartaks
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Spartaks are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gatis Stolcers commits to Spartaks for another 3 years.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Aleksandrs Cauna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match8 May 2027
Skonto left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 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 ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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
Squad3 May 2027
Pavels Savalnieks damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Squad3 May 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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 May 2027
The goals have deserted Spartaks
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Spartaks can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad3 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartaks can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 May 2027
Spartaks at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 6, 6 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad3 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guilherme Venâncio and Spartaks agree another 3 years.
The dugout3 May 2027
Uri Lima 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.