Marked for Álex Sánchez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
Mateusz Marzec damages knee ligaments — 62 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Egzon Kryeziu goes up and wins it — 7.89
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.89 for the rest of it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Gornik Leczna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egzon Kryeziu 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michał Litwa commits to Gornik Leczna for another 3 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Branislav Pindroch is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Domen Gril is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Miłosz Mleczko
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match31 Jul 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Mateusz Bednarek has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gornik Leczna can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Miłosz Mleczko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Radomiak Radom have kept their man, and Gornik Leczna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Kamil Orlik
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mateusz Hołownia and Gornik Leczna agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Piast 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Puszcza Niepołomice 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
Crisis
Squad31 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 May 2027
“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 Gornik Leczna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gornik Leczna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Egzon Kryeziu 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 dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamil Kruk, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
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 dugout31 May 2027
Jakub Myszor 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 Gornik Leczna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Branislav Spáčil signs something — a contract at Gornik Leczna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market31 May 2027
The shop window has Álex Sánchez in it
Gornik Leczna have let the market know Álex Sánchez can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gornik Leczna will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Gornik Leczna
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Miłosz Mleczko
“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 Apr 2027
Adam Deja knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam Deja trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Apr 2027
The Omar Janneh talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gornik Leczna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market26 Apr 2027
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Gornik Leczna could get for him.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager comes out for Borja López
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Borja López has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gornik Leczna may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Jakub Myszor was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Egzon Kryeziu 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
Adam Deja 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages swallow 101% of the Gornik Leczna income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.32 on the card, and the Gornik Leczna support went home talking about one name.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Sandro Vidigal has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gornik Leczna 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mateusz Bednarek after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match20 Mar 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Polonia Bytom defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Polonia Bytom was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gornik Leczna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Egzon Kryeziu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Miłosz Mleczko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Gornik Leczna 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mateusz Bednarek after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Miłosz Mleczko 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Gornik Leczna will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Miłosz Mleczko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Gornik Leczna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egzon Kryeziu 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Adam Deja
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Market16 Nov 2026
At 34, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market16 Nov 2026
The Omar Janneh story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Omar Janneh signs something — a contract at Gornik Leczna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Michał Litwa 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 Michał Litwa is on it.