Marked for Moses Eze
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Jan 2034
20 matches without a win for Zlin
The run now stands at 20, and the questions being asked around Zlin are no longer polite ones.
Market30 Jan 2034
“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.
Squad30 Jan 2034
A one-man rearguard from Seb Stacey
There were 8 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.
The dugout30 Jan 2034
Isaiah Powis: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zlin have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Jan 2034
Seb Stacey 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 Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market30 Jan 2034
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zlin have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad30 Jan 2034
Tadeáš Vachoušek 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.
Match28 Jan 2034
0‑1 to Banik Ostrava, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Jan 2034
No hiding place for Moses Eze
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moses Eze, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Jan 2034
17 matches without a win for Zlin
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Zlin are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Jan 2034
A fracture rules Matěj Hafera out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zlin will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout9 Jan 2034
Moses Eze keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zlin may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Jan 2034
“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 Zlin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets9 Jan 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Zlin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets9 Jan 2034
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sparta Prague is saying, and nobody at Zlin is enjoying the guessing.
Squad9 Jan 2034
Harry Evers arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Harry Evers has, at Zlin, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad9 Jan 2034
Tadeáš Vachoušek 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.
Squad9 Jan 2034
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Dec 2033
The wait goes on for Zlin
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match11 Dec 2033
Nowhere to hide for Zlin
1‑4 against Slovacko, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad12 Dec 2033
A fracture rules Matěj Hafera out for 58 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zlin will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Dec 2033
A falling-out at Zlin
Seb Stacey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Dec 2033
A row about effort at Zlin
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Petro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Dec 2033
“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; Zlin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom12 Dec 2033
Doors closed at Zlin
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout12 Dec 2033
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout12 Dec 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Idriss Ashiru, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Nov 2033
The wait goes on for Zlin
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad28 Nov 2033
Matěj Hafera breaks a bone — 72 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Nov 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market28 Nov 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zlin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Nov 2033
Tempers go at Zlin
Seb Stacey 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.
Squad28 Nov 2033
A row about effort at Zlin
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Petro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Nov 2033
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Nov 2033
Zlin are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match26 Nov 2033
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
In brief
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Match
Zlin hit back inside 3 minutes
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Looking ahead
Zlin face Karviná in the game that matters most
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The dugout
Moses Eze gets it from the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Sep 2033
Nour Boulkous damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Squad26 Sep 2033
9 saves: Seb Stacey was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market26 Sep 2033
“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 Zlin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match26 Sep 2033
Every point is an argument now for Zlin
Position 15 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad26 Sep 2033
Words exchanged at Zlin
David Stanek 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.
Squad26 Sep 2033
A row about effort at Zlin
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Petro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Sep 2033
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout26 Sep 2033
The manager makes an example of Gonçalo Correia
“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.
Match24 Sep 2033
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Teplice will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Sep 2033
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad12 Sep 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Patrik Coufal
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zlin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Sep 2033
Charles Petro has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zlin they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market12 Sep 2033
“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.
Squad12 Sep 2033
A move Matyáš Miška would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matyáš Miška is living that version at Zlin, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom12 Sep 2033
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Charles Petro has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad12 Sep 2033
Words exchanged at Zlin
Tadeáš Vachoušek 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 targets12 Sep 2033
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Zlin will try again when the window opens; Sparta Prague may not be selling by then.
Market12 Sep 2033
Seb Stacey is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zlin has been clear about where Seb Stacey stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Moses Eze
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Market
Still no ink between Zlin and Joep Munsters
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Aug 2033
“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.
Boardroom8 Aug 2033
Zlin told to sell
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Transfer targets8 Aug 2033
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pardubice is saying, and nobody at Zlin is enjoying the guessing.
Market8 Aug 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zlin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets8 Aug 2033
Slovacko wanted more than $710.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad8 Aug 2033
David Stanek 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 Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Aug 2033
Charles Petro 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.
Match6 Aug 2033
Jiri Soucek scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Slovacko, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Transfer targets8 Aug 2033
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom6 Jun 2033
Promotion for Zlin
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Market6 Jun 2033
“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 Zlin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market6 Jun 2033
Only the photograph left for Václav Říha
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Václav Říha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zlin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom6 Jun 2033
Václav Říha has agreed to leave Zlin for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad6 Jun 2033
Tempers go at Zlin
Tadeáš Vachoušek 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.
Squad6 Jun 2033
A row about effort at Zlin
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charles Petro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Jun 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEK have kept their man, and Zlin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Jun 2033
“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; Zlin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market6 Jun 2033
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Petr Stanek 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Apr 2033
“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 Zlin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Apr 2033
Pavel Cerny has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zlin they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Karel Belžík 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 Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Words at Zlin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominik Holaň 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.
Squad11 Apr 2033
“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; Zlin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Loan watch11 Apr 2033
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zlin, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout11 Apr 2033
Seb Stacey knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zlin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Apr 2033
The clock does David Idowu’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Zlin could ask drops and the wages David Idowu can ask rise.
Market11 Apr 2033
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zlin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
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Match
Zlin have something to play for
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The dugout
The manager makes Gonçalo Correia a promise
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Boardroom
The Zlin production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Mar 2033
“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.
Market14 Mar 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zlin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Charles Petro 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.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kobe Agbude, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market14 Mar 2033
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zlin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market14 Mar 2033
David Idowu runs his contract down
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Zlin money.
Match14 Mar 2033
Zlin have something to play for
Position 4 on 53 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
The manager makes Seb Stacey a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zlin. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
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Squad
Moses Eze still has not settled
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Boardroom
Zlin keep producing them
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Squad
David Idowu makes the division’s eleven — 6.61
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2032
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Remo Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Marvis Ogiomade and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Odion Iwobi and Remo Stars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
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.
Market29 Mar 2032
Moses Eze is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Remo Stars has been clear about where Moses Eze stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad29 Mar 2032
A Remo Stars teenager takes the young player award
Oscar Okocha is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
No hiding place for Frank Eze
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Frank Eze, and the manager let it.
Market29 Mar 2032
The name of Sulaiman Oyewale keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Remo Stars say nothing, which says plenty.
Market29 Mar 2032
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Remo Stars money.