Marked for Marius Sernas
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Dec 2035
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siauliai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom17 Dec 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Siauliai
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad17 Dec 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Siauliai may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Aug 2035
“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 The request is on a desk at Siauliai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom27 Aug 2035
Pressure builds in the Siauliai boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad27 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jun 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Azriel Gonzalez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Siauliai 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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
The manager makes an example of Paulius Sernas
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Mar 2034
The mood at Siauliai has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings6 Mar 2034
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 Mar 2034
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.
Squad6 Mar 2034
Azriel Gonzalez 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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2034
7 academy players handed senior numbers at Siauliai
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad6 Mar 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Zan Kampl and Siauliai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match4 Mar 2034
0‑2 to Atlantas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market6 Mar 2034
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marius Sernas 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.
Market6 Mar 2034
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Donatas Mikoliunas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.