The Utenis Chronicle
Squad8 Mar 2027
Karolis Slavickas damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Marius Valskis 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 The request is on a desk at Utenis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Utenis
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Utenis
Ander Marticorena and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Tomas Eliosius runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market8 Mar 2027
Arnas Simkus steps up from the Utenis academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arnas Simkus has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
Utenis promote Deividas Girdvainis from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Deividas Girdvainis 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
One of our own: Deividas Kuklys joins the Utenis first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Deividas Kuklys is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Predrag Simic signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Predrag Simic commits to Utenis for another 3 years.
In brief
- Squad Aidas Vaitkunas falls out with a teammate over standards
- The dugout The view from the dugout
- Boardroom Utenis say no to the training-ground money