Marked for Maxence Derrien
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Nov 2029
The knee: Louis Moult out for 23 days
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lincoln City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market19 Nov 2029
“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.
Market19 Nov 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Lincoln City heard it as anything else.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Jonathan Panzo 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Freddie Draper 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.
Match17 Nov 2029
A 3‑1 win over Derby County, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Marked 8.00 — 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 dugout19 Nov 2029
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.” Jacob Fisher, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Sep 2028
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.
Match19 Sep 2028
A European lesson for Suduva
1‑2 against NK Osijek. 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.
Market25 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxence Derrien will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Suduva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Sep 2028
68 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match19 Sep 2028
After 8 games, Suduva finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against NK Osijek; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Suduva
Ignas Plūkas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Suduva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Sabo 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 dugout25 Sep 2028
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ignas Kazlauskas after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Sep 2028
The shirt still fits. Giedrius Zenkevičius is back at Suduva, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Amadou Sabo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for Lukas Barauskas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Suduva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Stanojević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
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Squad11 Sep 2028
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Suduva know which stage they are at.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Yehor Tsykalo gets picked when it counts
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 Yehor Tsykalo is on it.
Market11 Sep 2028
At 40, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Suduva close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 11 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Suduva
Ignas Plūkas 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 targets4 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Suduva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
A loan enquiry to NK Maribor: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
Moutir Chajia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Suduva 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Suduva lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Suduva would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Aug 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Suduva they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Amadou Sabo 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.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Suduva
Faustas Steponavičius 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 dugout28 Aug 2028
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Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
DAC Dunajska Streda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Ibrahima Seck gets picked when it counts
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 Ibrahima Seck is on it.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Lucky Tom gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Suduva have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Slavia Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad14 Aug 2028
The medical room confirms 52 days on the sidelines for Lukas Barauskas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Suduva
Ignas Plūkas 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Suduva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Sabo 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.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Suduva asked and NK Maribor 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 dugout14 Aug 2028
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Squad14 Aug 2028
“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 Suduva know it.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Ludogorets have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Suduva people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market31 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxence Derrien will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Suduva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The deal with Aris Thessaloniki is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Suduva
Faustas Steponavičius 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Suduva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ognjen Marinković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Suduva have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
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.
Market31 Jul 2028
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Paulius Vaitkunas leaves Suduva the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Jul 2028
Lucky Tom puts it in writing
“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 Suduva, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
The paperwork begins on Luis Lines
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Suduva have done the hard part with Levski, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Suduva
Ignas Plūkas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitatea Craiova have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Jul 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Suduva have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Suduva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
A loan move for Ondřej Suchý is in the works
Suduva have made the call to Slavia Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Ibrahima Seck has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Suduva 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Suduva
Amadou Sabo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Suduva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ognjen Marinković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Hearts of Oak have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market10 Jul 2028
Atlantas are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Suduva will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Suduva have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market3 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxence Derrien will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Suduva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Maxence Derrien has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Ignas Plūkas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ferencvaros have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Amadou Sabo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Market3 Jul 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Faustas Steponavičius has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Suduva.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Amadou Sabo slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Amadou Sabo is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Suduva
Ignas Plūkas 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Amadou Sabo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Amadou Sabo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Suduva 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
“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.
Market21 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Giedrius Zenkevičius’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Ibrahima Seck plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
Sidy Sanokho breaks a bone — 18 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atlantas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Suduva is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Jan 2028
“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.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
The deal with Hellas Verona is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Suduva
Amadou Sabo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
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 Jan 2028
Nikša Vujčić 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darius Dapkus and Suduva agree another 3 years.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
Amadou Sabo gets picked when it counts
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 Amadou Sabo is on it.