Position 1, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Marvin Martins 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Liepaja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moustapha Diaw 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liepaja this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liepaja can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liepaja this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chase for Aleksandrs Jurkovskis ended with $84.0K changing hands and Skonto out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“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; Liepaja are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Vajebah Sakor 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
7 new faces, and Liepaja are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Kirils Iļjins 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liepaja lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liepaja this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
In brief
Squad7 new faces, and Liepaja are still learning each other
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liepaja this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Edqui Amaro has just signed for Liepaja, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
He is going to Ventspils, the club has $260.0K 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.
Marvin Martins 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 chase for Gatis Laizans ended with $120.0K changing hands and Skonto out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Ventspils paid $260.0K and Liepaja took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
A conversation is coming this week. Liepaja will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Liepaja training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moustapha Diaw 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.
35 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.
Prince Adu Kwabena 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.
Liepaja paid $120.0K and Skonto took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aliou Thiaré 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.
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 offer from Liepaja for Gatis Laizans 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.
Prince Adu Kwabena 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aliou Thiaré 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.
Nobody at Skonto 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Skonto will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.5M for Chovanie Amatkarijo, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Marked 7.81 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Skonto had the best player on the pitch.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chovanie Amatkarijo 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Skonto will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Skonto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igors Bulvitis 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.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Skonto are still learning each other
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Skonto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Skonto 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gatis Laizans has his answer from Skonto; what he does with it is the next window’s story.