Marked for Modestas Eliosius
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces11 Jun 2029
Anger at Stumbras spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market11 Jun 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Nobody at Stumbras 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stumbras, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Ignas Vaitkunas joins up with his country. Stumbras lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Mar 2028
Paulius Satkus damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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 Mar 2028
Chastening afternoon for Stumbras
A 0‑6 beating by Zalgiris was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match4 Mar 2028
9 matches without a win for Stumbras
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Stumbras are no longer polite ones.
Market6 Mar 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rokas Simkus and Stumbras agree another 4 years.
Match4 Mar 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Stumbras and Zalgiris, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Graduation day at Stumbras
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Home is on Aris Ara's mind
“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; Stumbras are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 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 Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.