Marked for Sergi Samper
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Motor Lublin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fábio Ronaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Piast, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Chinedu Ekene commits to Motor Lublin for another 4 years.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jan Grosicki after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Brkić
“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.
Market9 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fábio Ronaldo signs something — a contract at Motor Lublin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Motor Lublin that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Hervé Matthys
Nobody at Motor Lublin is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Thomas Santos 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fábio Ronaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Sep 2026
Pogon left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 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 Jan Grosicki to a room that had heard them before.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Legia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Sergi Samper 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 Motor Lublin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Motor Lublin. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Motor Lublin's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Motor Lublin has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Thomas Santos 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Motor Lublin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fábio Ronaldo 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
GKS Katowice left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Motor Lublin did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $450.6K — a club that wants Kacper Krzepisz enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Motor Lublin offered $420.0K; Arka Gdynia 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Motor Lublin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cracovia have kept their man, and Motor Lublin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Fábio Ronaldo 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Half-satisfied: Jan Grosicki on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.