A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teplice will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad29 May 2028
Tomáš Vlček 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.
Michal Bílek 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teplice will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teplice can pretend not to have heard.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jakub Jakubko has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Something was said to Matěj Náprstek and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teplice will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marek Naskos is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Teplice can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Matouš Trmal is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Teplice have no good answer.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Teplice that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tomáš Zlatohlávek. 2‑0 against Slovacko, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Teplice told Daniel Mareček something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jakub Jakubko.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Stanislav Coufal could afford to be generous.
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 Lukáš Mareček is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teplice can pretend not to have heard.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Teplice and České Budějovice in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Vlček 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.
Marked 7.17 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teplice can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Vlček 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.
Teplice asked and Zbrojovka Brno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Michal Bílek 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Teplice has been clear about where Jakub Jakubko stands, which is more than many ever get.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teplice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaroslav Harušťák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Stanislav Coufal, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matouš Trmal signs something — a contract at Teplice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaroslav Harušťák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Stanislav Coufal on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Teplice 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 9, 19 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tomáš Holý commits to Teplice for another 1 years.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Stanislav Coufal to a room that had heard them before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tomáš Vlček wants continental football; whether Teplice can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
“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 Teplice, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaroslav Harušťák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑1 draw with Slavia Prague leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Lukáš Mareček
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutLukáš Mareček has become a man the manager trusts
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teplice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Teplice will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teplice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Michal Bílek 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.
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.
“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 Teplice, and 0 appearances in 1 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Lukáš Mareček
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Stanislav Coufal after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sigma Olomouc defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon ran through Matyáš Kozák
He is going to Mlada Boleslav, the club has $390.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teplice can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Viktoria Žižkov for Luděk Němeček was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Mlada Boleslav pay $390.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Vlček 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.
Michal Bílek 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Teplice has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Zlatohlávek 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Teplice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Petr Kodeš has written the date down.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Teplice. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kryštof Lichtenberg trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Tomáš Vlček
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Teplice lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
John Auta 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Teplice know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Teplice. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutOliver Klimpl knocks on the manager’s door
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Teplice did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Zlatohlávek 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matěj Pulkrab. 2‑1 against Sigma Olomouc, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teplice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nojus Audinis commits to Teplice for another 4 years.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Stanislav Coufal kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Vlček 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.
7.57, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Teplice had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Stanislav Coufal chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
That is the business done at Teplice until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Teplice have done the hard part with Zlin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The name of Jakub Jakubko has come up in conversations Teplice were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tomáš Vlček 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.
Robert Jukl 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marek Beránek. 2‑1 against Karviná, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
10 combined actions and 6.71. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tomáš Vlček 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panathinaikos have kept their man, and Teplice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Robert Jukl 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Teplice will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“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 Teplice, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Teplice have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tomáš Vlček 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.
Teplice asked and Slovacko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Zlatohlávek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Stanislav Coufal left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Teplice told Lukáš Mareček something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Slavia Prague next, and one man in the Teplice dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Vlček 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.
A 2‑0 win over Slovacko, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Daniel Mareček was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Sparta Prague arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Teplice man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Matyáš Kozák was the best thing in any of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stanislav Coufal after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Daniel Mareček has come out of that comparison in the side, and Teplice have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Banik Ostrava next, and one man in the Teplice dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Tomáš Vlček 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.
Michal Bílek 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.
Position 4, 29 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“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; Teplice are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Stanislav Coufal to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Lukáš Mareček
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Teplice told Jakub Emmer something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Vlček 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Teplice.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Daniel Mareček was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Ladislav Krejčí and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Zlatohlávek 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.
Something was said to Marcel Čermák and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Teplice 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.
Jablonec next, and one man in the Teplice dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matouš Trmal signs something — a contract at Teplice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jakub Jakubko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A side in position 7 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Mareček provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Vlček 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Mareček. 2‑0 against Sigma Olomouc, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Stanislav Coufal, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Teplice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tomáš Vlček signs something — a contract at Teplice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Banik Ostrava ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Jason Noslin takes the afternoon — 8.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jason Noslin provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tomáš Vlček 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 7.01, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matěj Pulkrab. 1‑0 against Viktoria Plzen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Something was said to Daniel Mareček and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Chances created: 11. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Stanislav Coufal was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Teplice dressing room was either.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Lukáš Mareček
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Mareček provided it, and the 8.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Jakub Emmer reports back to Teplice with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Stanislav Coufal, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutMarcel Čermák knocks on the manager’s door
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Dukla Prague will make the call about Tomáš Zlatohlávek this week. Teplice have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Vlček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marcel Čermák is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
“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 Teplice, and it is not being withdrawn.
$1.3M on the table at Sparta Prague. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Slavia Prague this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $133.1K — a club that wants Jakub Martinec enough to be asked twice.
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and Sparta Prague were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Add another name to the list: FC Košice have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Pavel Svatek. The answer from Teplice has not changed — yet.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tomáš Vlček 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.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Teplice scored in the 102th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Pavel Svatek takes the afternoon — 8.46
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pavel Svatek provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Jan Fortelný was one of the reasons people came, and $830.0K does not replace that by itself.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Teplice is enjoying the guessing.
Teplice have gone to Sparta Prague with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Teplice have gone to Slavia Prague with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo deal for Divine Teah at that price
Ladislav Krejčí 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Zlatohlávek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Still no offer on the table, and Daniel Mareček’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.