A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Teplice is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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 mood at Teplice 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Teplice, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Augustin Drakpe 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matouš Trmal, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Martin Barak to a room that had heard them before.
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mlada Boleslav were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Teplice hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
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.
10 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.
“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.
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.
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.
“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 dugout27 Nov 2028
Matouš Trmal is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
0‑4 against Slavia Prague, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Teplice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Teplice can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“I watch every Teplice game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zaglebie runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
1‑4 against Sparta Prague, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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.
6 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.
“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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Mareček 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.
The goal that put Sparta Prague ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Teplice equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Matouš Trmal now has 25 of them across 230 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Teplice are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Oct 2028
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 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Position 14 and 7 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.
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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Martin Barak to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Aboubacar Traoré and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Teplice hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
This is not rotation. Ladislav Krejčí has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Teplice is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Sep 2028
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.
Michal Bílek 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.
“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 dugout18 Sep 2028
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 0‑1 Martin Barak left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
8 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutTomáš Vlček knocks on the manager's door
103 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.
Teplice offered $41.0K; Jablonec said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Add another name to the list: Zaglebie have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Samuel Pikolon. The answer from Teplice has not changed — yet.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Teplice can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad31 Jul 2028
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.
Michal Bílek 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tomáš Vlček had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Teplice people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Teplice offered $1.9M; Zbrojovka Brno said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sigma Olomouc have kept their man, and Teplice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
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.
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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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 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.
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.
Ladislav Almási 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 Zlatohlávek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Teplice would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
“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.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Teplice can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Anton Hlushchenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Jaroslav Harušťák has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“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.
15 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 Anton Hlushchenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 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.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matouš Trmal, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Martin Barak to a room that had heard them before.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The fee is $3.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Bohemians 1905 drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Luca Meirelles, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad24 Jan 2028
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 was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“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.
Match8 Jan 2028
Daniel Mareček wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Daniel Mareček found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Sigma Olomouc went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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.
Teplice asked and Chrudim said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jan 2028
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.
“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.
Anton Hlushchenko 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 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. Slovacko have kept their man, and Teplice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Teplice has been clear about where Ladislav Krejčí stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
1‑2 against Heerenveen, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Luca Meirelles, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Aboubacar Traoré 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.
He is 20 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.
6 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luca Meirelles did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Martin Barak after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
4 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.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Teplice know it.
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.
Half the programme played, position 8, 18 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Teplice may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anton Hlushchenko 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 Aboubacar Traoré and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Hradec Králové 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.
1‑2 against Besiktas. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Luca Meirelles, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Daniel Mareček 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.
Squad8 Nov 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Something was said to Luca Meirelles and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutNo place for Michal Bílek on the big day
A 1‑0 win over České Budějovice, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Daniel Mareček 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.
Squad1 Nov 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
1‑4 against Besiktas. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.61, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Teplice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 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.
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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout18 Oct 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Martin Barak to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
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.
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.
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 Pavel Svatek is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mlada Boleslav in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Teplice, another week without a signature from Pavel Svatek.
0‑2 against Heerenveen. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
“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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lukáš Mareček commits to Teplice for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Teplice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anton Hlushchenko 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.
Yunusa Muritala 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Teplice told Matouš Trmal 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 Yunusa Muritala.
4 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.
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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Lukáš Mareček will call it something else in private.
“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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Matěj Náprstek reports back to Teplice with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Jaroslav Harušťák 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.
Teplice asked and Dukla Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
Teplice had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bari, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from Slovan Liberec for Dalibor Večerka 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.
Zlin paid $440.0K and Teplice took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad6 Sep 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Teplice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Bohemians 1905 will make the call about Matěj Náprstek this week. Teplice have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Matouš Trmal
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Pavel Svatek
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The chase for Yunusa Muritala ended with $590.0K changing hands and Sigma Olomouc out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Marked 9.41. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Teplice.
Squad26 Jul 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.
“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.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Teplice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Teplice have made the call to Sparta Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zbrojovka Brno have kept their man, and Teplice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Aboubacar Traoré 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Teplice know it.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Marcel Čermák has moved up it.
In brief
The dugoutMarcel Čermák knocks on the manager's door
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 season average of 7.10 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Teplice know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad12 Apr 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 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.
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.
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 Michal Bílek has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutJakub Jakubko knocks on the manager’s door
SquadThe training reports on Jakub Jakubko are not good