Marked for Tadas Cernych
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tadas Cernych
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Suduva lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market6 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suduva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market6 Aug 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Suduva have done the hard part with Shakhtar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Suduva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Sabo 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 targets6 Aug 2029
Suduva asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Aug 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 Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rati Grigalava, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
When it matters, Amadou Sabo 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tadas Cernych
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Suduva lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match25 Jul 2029
Suduva through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Kauno Zalgiris, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Omran Haydary is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.58 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Fee done, terms next for Stipe Perica
Suduva and Zalgiris have settled on $200.0K. 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
20 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Suduva had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Korona, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Amadou Sabo 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 Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Jul 2029
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Suduva lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match23 Jul 2029
Suduva are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 34 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market23 Jul 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 Suduva can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Suduva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Suduva asked and Dynamo Kyiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Suduva
Omran Haydary 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 targets23 Jul 2029
A loan move for Lukáš Bránecký is in the works
Suduva have made the call to Korona. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
Moutir Chajia 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 Moutir Chajia is on it.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
“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
Upbeat
Squad16 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tadas Cernych
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Suduva lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Suduva people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market16 Jul 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 targets16 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Suduva have done the hard part with Shakhtar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Suduva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Sabo 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.
Squad16 Jul 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; Suduva are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Haladas have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Suduva
Omran Haydary and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
Yehor Tsykalo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Suduva 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
Upbeat
Squad9 Jul 2029
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Suduva lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market9 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suduva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Suduva have done the hard part with Lech, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Suduva
Amadou Sabo 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.
Market9 Jul 2029
The phone has started ringing about Rati Grigalava again, and this time the name on the line is Stumbras. Suduva are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Yehor Tsykalo 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Shakhtar 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
A loan enquiry to Ural: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
In brief
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Boardroom
87% of the income goes out in wages at Suduva
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The dugout
Amadou Sabo gets picked when it counts
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Vikintas Cernych