Marked for Aleksandrs Rugins
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Apr 2028
Spartaks through in the cup
A 0‑2 win over Jelgava, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match5 Apr 2028
Spartaks march on in the cup
Jelgava are out and Spartaks go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market10 Apr 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Spartaks
Alvis Tarasovs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Apr 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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Samir Memišević 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 ratings10 Apr 2028
Igors Oss could not find anything
4.43. 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.
Market10 Apr 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Aleksandrs Rugins has his answer from Spartaks; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Mar 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Skonto, and it could have been more.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad20 Mar 2028
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market20 Mar 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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Ikenna Motors: 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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
A hand in 3 of them from Marcis Fertovs — 7.97
Marked 7.97. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Market20 Mar 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.
Squad20 Mar 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
Marko Brkić among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Marko Brkić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Spartaks and Skonto.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Feb 2028
Alexei Savinov 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samir Memišević 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
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 Kristaps Cauna is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Marcis Fertovs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandrs Rugins 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 Oct 2027
Nobody at Spartaks 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kaspars Ikaunieks, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Ikenna Motors 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 Spartaks, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
The goals keep arriving from Ignas Slavickas’s exile
3 goals in 11 games at Ventspils — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Spartaks updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
Samir Memišević damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Spartaks
Marcis Fertovs 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The medical room confirms 46 days on the sidelines for Vitalijs Ikaunieks, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Aleksandrs Rugins 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 dugout11 Oct 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 Marcis Fertovs is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
Samir Memišević damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Match4 Oct 2027
Spartaks are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 19 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Rodolphe Ekou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Spartaks 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Spartaks were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Market4 Oct 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
A promise honoured at Spartaks
Something was said to Ikenna Motors and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Vitalijs Tarasovs has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Spartaks 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
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
78 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market16 Aug 2027
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 targets16 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Koper is saying, and nobody at Spartaks is enjoying the guessing.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Spartaks
Marcis Fertovs 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 targets16 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nomme Kalju have kept their man, and Spartaks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Armandas Raudonis, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandrs Rugins 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 dugout16 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 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.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartaks may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrius Girdvainis is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Marcis Fertovs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Spartaks asked and Kauno 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Abba Musa told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Abba Musa has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Spartaks.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Ikenna Motors 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 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Davis Ciganovs
“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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to NK Celje: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 May 2027
Abba Musa puts it in writing
“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.
The dugout31 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Igors Vanins 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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Spartaks 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 dugout31 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 dugout31 May 2027
Nobody at Spartaks 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
Market24 May 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Up for the corner, and Rodolphe Ekou delivers — 7.66
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rodolphe Ekou scored, was marked 7.66, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market24 May 2027
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Spartaks
Marcis Fertovs 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 dugout24 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.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Spartaks
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksandrs Rugins was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 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.
Match22 May 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ismail Muhd's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
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The dugout
Kristaps Cauna has become a man the manager trusts
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Player ratings
An afternoon Ismail Muhd will want back
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
Marcis Fertovs 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.
Match15 May 2027
Liepaja left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ikenna Motors 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 dugout17 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.
Market17 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Spartaks, another week without a signature from Ugochukwu Ejike.
The dugout17 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout17 May 2027
Tadej Bonaca 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 Tadej Bonaca trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad17 May 2027
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Spartaks lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout17 May 2027
Vitalijs Tarasovs has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Spartaks 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
Triumph
Market3 May 2027
Abba Musa puts it in writing
“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.
Match3 May 2027
14 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Player ratings3 May 2027
No sign of nerves from Rodolphe Ekou at 21 — 8.04
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rodolphe Ekou did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad3 May 2027
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.
Match1 May 2027
Still nobody has beaten Spartaks
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad3 May 2027
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Marcis Fertovs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces3 May 2027
He is 21 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.
Match1 May 2027
Ventspils made Spartaks work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Apr 2027
Cup progress for Spartaks
A 2‑1 win over Jelgava, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match7 Apr 2027
Spartaks make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Spartaks have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Spartaks
Marcis Fertovs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
He is 23 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tadej Bonaca, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Spartaks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandrs Rugins 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 7.78 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Spartaks had the best player on the pitch.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I watch every Spartaks game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Liepaja runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Janis Fertovs kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
Market29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tadej Bonaca 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 Spartaks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kaspars Stolcers is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Spartaks
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcis Fertovs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Mar 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 Spartaks know it.
The dugout29 Mar 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Kristaps Cauna has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Spartaks 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Angelos Tafas 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 Spartaks, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Angelos Tafas: 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.34, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Spartaks
Marcis Fertovs 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 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Terem Musa is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match20 Mar 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Igors Vanins’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Spartaks.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Spartaks
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksandrs Rugins was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 2027
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abba Musa and Spartaks agree another 3 years.
Squad1 Mar 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marcis Fertovs 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
Aleksandrs Rugins 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Dec 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 Spartaks can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Dec 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 dugout7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Spartaks
Ignas Slavickas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.