Marked for Patrick Nwadike
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Nov 2029
Matúš Macík is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Matúš Macík: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match21 Nov 2029
A 1‑1 win over AS Trencin, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The dugout26 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad26 Nov 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Libor Holík 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.
Looking ahead26 Nov 2029
DAC Dunajska Streda next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Nov 2029
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.93, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match19 Nov 2029
Position 3 and 39 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Andraž Šporar, 35, rolls back the years — 8.04
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Up for the corner, and Patrick Nwadike delivers — 7.89
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Patrick Nwadike scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad19 Nov 2029
A season average of 7.33 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Libor Holík 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Hilary Gong 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 Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces19 Nov 2029
He is 22 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.67, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
13 goals and a season average of 7.30. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Libor Holík 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andraž Šporar. 3‑1 against MFK Skalica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.67. 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.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Market5 Nov 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Oct 2029
0‑3 against Slovan Bratislava, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad29 Oct 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Tomič 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.
Match27 Oct 2029
4 matches without defeat, and then Slovan Bratislava. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“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.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
Nobody left the Spartak Trnava dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout29 Oct 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Stefan Bero to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad15 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Luka Khorkheli out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartak Trnava will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match13 Oct 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Podbrezova, and it could have been more.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“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.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
A defender's goal wins it for Spartak Trnava — 7.82
1 for Akeem Akanni, marked 7.82, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match13 Oct 2029
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Spartak Trnava have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Michal Tomič 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Hilary Gong and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Sep 2029
Position 3 and 20 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Tomič 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.
Market24 Sep 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Matúš Macík dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartak Trnava can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match22 Sep 2029
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Jesús Lobo 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
Squad10 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 Sep 2029
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Patrick Nwadike reports back to Spartak Trnava with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Age has not caught Andraž Šporar yet — 8.15
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Libor Holík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 Sep 2029
A 1‑0 win over MFK Ruzomberok, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timotej Kudlička, and the manager let it.
Market10 Sep 2029
Still no offer on the table, and Patrick Nwadike’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match1 Sep 2029
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Michal Tomič scored in the 89th minute, Zlate Moravce had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Spartak Trnava took the lot.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.52, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A move Andriy Havrylenko would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andriy Havrylenko is living that version at Spartak Trnava, and it tends to show in the first month.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
“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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 16 in, 15 out at Spartak Trnava
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad3 Sep 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Market3 Sep 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Spartak Trnava will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Aug 2029
A fracture rules Luka Khorkheli out for 74 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartak Trnava will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
$8.4M settles it between the clubs for Luca Langoni
Slovan Bratislava have accepted the money. What Spartak Trnava do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Trnava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Libor Holík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Matúš Macík
“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.
Match18 Aug 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdulrahman Taiwo. 1‑0 against MFK Skalica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Squad
6 new faces, and Spartak Trnava are still learning each other
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Matúš Macík
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market30 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Spartak Trnava have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
“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.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Tomás Mena is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Libor Holík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Luka Khorkheli out for 104 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartak Trnava will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Spartak Trnava asked and Slovan Bratislava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match21 Jul 2029
Spartak Trnava make home a hard place to visit
13 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.
Market23 Jul 2029
The name of Patrick Nwadike has come up in conversations Spartak Trnava were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Stefan Bero signs on for the long haul
Spartak Trnava moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Stefan Bero, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Squad23 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ollie Bostock is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Michal Tomič 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Luka Khorkheli out for 111 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartak Trnava will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with DAC Dunajska Streda; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market16 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market16 Jul 2029
Nikita Kotin hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Jul 2029
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
At 30 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter have kept their man, and Spartak Trnava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Jul 2029
The offer from Zlate Moravce for Patrick Nwadike 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Martin Černek breaks a bone — 80 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Spartak Trnava asked and DAC Dunajska Streda 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 dugout9 Jul 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Trnava may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Jul 2029
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Andraž Šporar
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Spartak Trnava will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad9 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Mikovič commits to Spartak Trnava for another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2029
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Jul 2029
Martin Černek breaks a bone — 89 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market2 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Trnava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Patrick Nwadike in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Real Madrid, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tomas Lobotka 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Mikovič and Spartak Trnava agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benevento have kept their man, and Spartak Trnava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Martin Černek breaks a bone — 98 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Tomič 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 targets25 Jun 2029
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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Hilary Gong and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Too much change too quickly at Spartak Trnava
7 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.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
Stefan Skrbo 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 Stefan Skrbo is on it.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Pavlov, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
Lorenzo Villa 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 Spartak Trnava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jun 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Spartak Trnava people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Martin Černek breaks a bone — 105 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovan Bratislava have kept their man, and Spartak Trnava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
No deal for Sandro Cruz at that price
Spartak Trnava offered $1.2M; Slovan Bratislava 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Libor Holík 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Spartak Trnava have made the call to AS Roma. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jun 2029
114 days out for Martin Černek after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spartak Trnava will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Jun 2029
The bid was some way short and Spartak Trnava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Jun 2029
“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.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. DAC Dunajska Streda have kept their man, and Spartak Trnava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces11 Jun 2029
Supporters turn on the $600.0K sale of Roko Jureškin
He is going to Slovan Bratislava, the club has $600.0K 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
A move Hilary Gong would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hilary Gong is living that version at Spartak Trnava, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
The offer went to Slovan Bratislava 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 dugout11 Jun 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad11 Jun 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Tomič 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 dugout21 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patrick Nwadike, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 May 2029
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 dugout21 May 2029
Jakub Jokl asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout21 May 2029
Marin Laušić has been promised minutes
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 Marin Laušić has written the date down.
Market21 May 2029
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Spartak Trnava could get for him.
Squad21 May 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Spartak Trnava would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 May 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 May 2029
Michal Tomič 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.
Squad14 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joseph Atule and Spartak Trnava agree another 4 years.
The dugout14 May 2029
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 dugout14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Akeem Akanni, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 May 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartak Trnava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 May 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout14 May 2029
Something was said to Joseph Atule and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market14 May 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Spartak Trnava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 May 2029
Patrick Nwadike in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad7 May 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Libor Holík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 May 2029
Lorenzo Villa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 May 2029
Tempers went at Spartak Trnava this week. Nothing a hard session and a quiet word cannot repair, though the story got out all the same.
Market7 May 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout7 May 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Spartak Trnava 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 dugout7 May 2029
Lorenzo Villa 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 Spartak Trnava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market7 May 2029
The clock does Patrick Nwadike’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Spartak Trnava could ask drops and the wages Patrick Nwadike can ask rise.
The dugout7 May 2029
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 Nikita Pavlov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Trnava may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market30 Apr 2029
“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 Spartak Trnava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Michal Tomič 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 dugout30 Apr 2029
“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 dugout30 Apr 2029
Marin Laušić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Spartak Trnava 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.
Match30 Apr 2029
Continental football is in reach for Spartak Trnava
39 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market30 Apr 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roko Jureškin signs something — a contract at Spartak Trnava or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market30 Apr 2029
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Spartak Trnava could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Apr 2029
39 days out for Nikita Pavlov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spartak Trnava will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market2 Apr 2029
“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 Spartak Trnava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Trnava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefan Skrbo and Spartak Trnava agree another 4 years.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Michal Tomič 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.
Market2 Apr 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Patrick Nwadike has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Spartak Trnava.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Patrick Nwadike asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Mar 2029
Nikita Pavlov breaks a bone — 48 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Mar 2029
“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 Spartak Trnava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Libor Holík 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 dugout26 Mar 2029
“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 dugout26 Mar 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Mar 2029
A fracture rules Nikita Pavlov out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartak Trnava will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spartak Trnava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michal Tomič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch12 Mar 2029
“I did not go to Padideh to sit and watch. I want to come back to Spartak Trnava and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
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 Abdulrahman Taiwo is on it.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Nikita Pavlov
“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.
Market12 Mar 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Spartak Trnava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market12 Mar 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Feb 2029
Nikita Pavlov breaks a bone — 96 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Feb 2029
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Zlate Moravce moved on, Patrick Nwadike reports back to Spartak Trnava, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Libor Holík 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 targets12 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pro Vercelli have kept their man, and Spartak Trnava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Marin Laušić 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.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
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 dugout12 Feb 2029
Patrick Nwadike asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Feb 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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The clock did what DAC Dunajska Streda would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Market5 Feb 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Trnava they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Spartak Trnava 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Michal Tomič 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bruno Figueiredo commits to Spartak Trnava for another 4 years.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Spartak Trnava have made the call to Pro Vercelli. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Jan 2029
The bid was some way short and Spartak Trnava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market8 Jan 2029
Roko Jureškin hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Jan 2029
30 days out for Peter Lobotka after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Spartak Trnava will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Spartak Trnava asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market8 Jan 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Trnava they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Everything agreed with NK Maribor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alessandro Eleuteri 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Abdulrahman Taiwo 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.
Market8 Jan 2029
The name of Kristián Koštrna has come up in conversations Spartak Trnava were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Jan 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.
Market1 Jan 2029
Terms done: Jakub Jokl is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Union Espanola waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Spartak Trnava is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Trnava may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Libor Holík 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 dugout1 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martin Mikovič, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
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.
Market1 Jan 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market1 Jan 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Roman Procházka has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Spartak Trnava.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Dec 2028
Mário Junior hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Abdulrahman Taiwo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michal Tomič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market25 Dec 2028
The name of Jakub Jokl has come up in conversations Spartak Trnava were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Andraž Šporar has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Spartak Trnava 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 dugout25 Dec 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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Patrick Nwadike asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
Market25 Dec 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Spartak Trnava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market4 Dec 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Dec 2028
There were 86 minutes on the clock and DAC Dunajska Streda had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Spartak Trnava did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A fracture rules Imrich Bedecs out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Spartak Trnava will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A one-man rearguard from Matúš Macík
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match2 Dec 2028
Nobody wants to play Spartak Trnava right now
4 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
The offer from Deportivo Tachira for Jakub Jokl 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.
Match2 Dec 2028
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martin Mikovič and Spartak Trnava agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Nov 2028
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Trnava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market6 Nov 2028
“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 Spartak Trnava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.18, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad6 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michal Tomič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match4 Nov 2028
It finished 3‑1, and it was Luka Khorkheli’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Spartak Trnava.
Match4 Nov 2028
Spartak Trnava make home a hard place to visit
8 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mário Junior, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
Andraž Šporar damages knee ligaments — 48 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Market30 Oct 2028
“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 Spartak Trnava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Libor Holík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match28 Oct 2028
1‑3 to Slovan Bratislava, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Lorenzo Villa 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hilary Gong, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 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 1‑3 Stefan Bero left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartak Trnava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2028
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Trnava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Trnava may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Libor Holík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Nikita Kotin 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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Ninety minutes of Abdulrahman Taiwo at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Spartak Trnava.
Match21 Oct 2028
A goal on 93 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Spartak Trnava are still strangers to each other
6 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Marin Laušić
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Sep 2028
“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 Spartak Trnava, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Trnava may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Luka Khorkheli 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Libor Holík 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
MSK Zilina left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Marin Laušić
“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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
7 new faces, and Spartak Trnava are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stefan Bero after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout25 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Aug 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.
Market28 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. Spartak Trnava have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout28 Aug 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Luka Khorkheli 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Libor Holík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Nikita Kotin 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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
7.76, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Spartak Trnava had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad28 Aug 2028
6 new faces, and Spartak Trnava are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Spartak Trnava may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market14 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Renato Beqaj
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Renato Beqaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Trnava the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Spartak Trnava offered $600.0K; MSK Zilina 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Luka Khorkheli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Zakaria Rasouli is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Patrick Nwadike has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Libor Holík 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.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 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 dugout31 Jul 2028
Jakub Jokl: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spartak Trnava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 Spartak Trnava people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market31 Jul 2028
MFK Skalica come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Spartak Trnava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Luka Khorkheli 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
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Libor Holík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Jul 2028
At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spartak Myjava waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Spartak Trnava is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match17 Jul 2028
Position 3 and 47 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market17 Jul 2028
Matej Kochan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Trnava they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
No deal for Akeem Akanni at that price
Spartak Trnava offered $250.0K; MFK Ruzomberok 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 Jul 2028
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Libor Holík 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Erik 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 Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Jul 2028
MFK Skalica come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Spartak Trnava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Trnava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sporting CP is saying, and nobody at Spartak Trnava is enjoying the guessing.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Libor Holík 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 Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michal Tomič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Jul 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Hilary Gong slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Hilary Gong is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
A loan move for Haris Mujanić is in the works
Spartak Trnava have made the call to Koper. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Istra 1961 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Spartak Trnava is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Spartak Trnava had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ajax, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Libor Holík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Patrick Nwadike 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 targets26 Jun 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 dugout26 Jun 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
A loan move for Henrique Reis is in the works
Spartak Trnava have made the call to Sporting CP. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market26 Jun 2028
Erik Sabo told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Erik Sabo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Spartak Trnava.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 May 2028
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Trnava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match22 May 2028
47 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad22 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Libor Holík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market22 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Spartak Trnava, another week without a signature from Patrick Nwadike.
Squad22 May 2028
Kai Brosnan 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 Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch22 May 2028
“I watch every Spartak Trnava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Haladas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad22 May 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartak Trnava can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout22 May 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.
The dugout22 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 May 2028
Marko Kelemen hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Trnava can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Trnava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 May 2028
Luka Khorkheli 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Libor Holík 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 dugout1 May 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.
Market1 May 2028
Francisco Cabeçana is 19, and Spartak Trnava have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout1 May 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.
Market1 May 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout1 May 2028
Roko Jureškin 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 Spartak Trnava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Nikita Mihhailov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spartak Trnava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Libor Holík 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 Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Nwadike was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartak Trnava can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout13 Mar 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patrick Nwadike trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Hilary Gong 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 Hilary Gong is on it.
Market13 Mar 2028
Erik Sabo runs his contract down
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Spartak Trnava money.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Marek Ujlaky
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marek Ujlaky will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Trnava the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Libor Holík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Tomič 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.
Squad6 Mar 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 Spartak Trnava know it.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Kelemen, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
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 Abdulrahman Taiwo is on it.
Market6 Mar 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartak Trnava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market6 Mar 2028
Pius Igwe told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Pius Igwe has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Spartak Trnava.