The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zbrojovka Brno have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Pribram for Colin Andrew 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.
At 23 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Zbrojovka Brno and Viktoria Plzen, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadWords at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
BoardroomNobody left the Zbrojovka Brno dressing room in a hurry
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adam Hrdina and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jan Křivánek 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.
Erik Bodencer 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Jakub Pokorný 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.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Erik Bodencer. 2‑1 against Mlada Boleslav, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panserraikos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zbrojovka Brno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zbrojovka Brno have done the hard part with Slavia Prague, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zbrojovka Brno can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ondřej Pavlík will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Zeleznicar Pancevo for Damian Čech 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Erik Bodencer 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zbrojovka Brno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zbrojovka Brno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adam Valenta is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alverca have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zbrojovka Brno have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zbrojovka Brno is running low.
“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 Zbrojovka Brno know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zbrojovka Brno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zbrojovka Brno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jakub Pešek will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Zbrojovka Brno had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at SV Ried, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Erik Bodencer 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Zlin will make the call about Ondřej Pavlík this week. Zbrojovka Brno have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bohemians 1905 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Jakub Pokorný 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Damian Čech and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 4 years.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amadou Danté signs something — a contract at Zbrojovka Brno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pribram waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything agreed with Slavia Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Patrik Žitný 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zbrojovka Brno asked and Alverca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Erik Bodencer 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.
Add another name to the list: Pribram have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Colin Andrew. The answer from Zbrojovka Brno has not changed — yet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zbrojovka Brno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad26 May 2031
Jakub Pokorný 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Zbrojovka Brno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rubin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amadou Danté signs something — a contract at Zbrojovka Brno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Colin Andrew has written the date down.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ondřej Pavlík will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Pokorný 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.
Squad12 May 2031
Erik Bodencer 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.
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 Adam Hrdina is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Zbrojovka Brno that is a harder question to answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zbrojovka Brno. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zbrojovka Brno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Jakub Pokorný 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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Erik Bodencer 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.
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 Martin Rymarenko is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ondřej Pavlík will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Jakub Pokorný 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zbrojovka Brno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
35 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Petr Ševčík 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaromír Zmrhal and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 2 years.
In brief
SquadJakub Pokorný falls out with a teammate over standards
Petr Ševčík 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 Mar 2031
Erik Bodencer 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A 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 Colin Andrew has written the date down.
“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 Zbrojovka Brno, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Jakub Pokorný 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.
“I watch every Zbrojovka Brno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rubin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amadou Danté signs something — a contract at Zbrojovka Brno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zbrojovka Brno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ondřej Pavlík will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tihomir Kostadinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Bodencer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrik Žitný and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Erik Bodencer 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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Jakub Pokorný 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno 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.
In brief
The dugoutOndřej Pavlík knocks on the manager’s door
“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 Zbrojovka Brno know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zbrojovka Brno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amadou Danté signs something — a contract at Zbrojovka Brno or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zbrojovka Brno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ondřej Pavlík will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Bodencer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Adam Hrdina is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Erik Bodencer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Erik Bodencer reports back to Zbrojovka Brno with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Jakub Pokorný 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bayern Munich have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Zbrojovka Brno close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Colin Andrew reports back to Zbrojovka Brno with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
A conversation is coming this week. Zbrojovka Brno will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑3 against Slavia Prague, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zbrojovka Brno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zbrojovka Brno have done the hard part with Slavia Prague, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Everything was agreed with Viktoria Plzen and then the doctor spoke. Zbrojovka Brno have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Ondřej Pavlík has come up in conversations Zbrojovka Brno were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Bodencer 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.
Zbrojovka Brno and Viktoria Plzen have settled on $76.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Adam Hrdina
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pribram waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Slavia Prague have accepted the money. What Zbrojovka Brno do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The phone has started ringing about Erik Bodencer again, and this time the name on the line is Bohemians 1905. Zbrojovka Brno are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Jakub Pokorný 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.
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slovacko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zbrojovka Brno have done the hard part with Liverpool, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Petr Ševčík was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The phone has started ringing about Ondřej Pavlík again, and this time the name on the line is Pribram. Zbrojovka Brno are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Bodencer 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adam Jakubkovič and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 3 years.
A 1‑1 draw with Banik Ostrava leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Petr Darida chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Patrik Brabec has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Jankto has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pavel Sima has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jan Sima is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zbrojovka Brno can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Bodencer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Petr Darida after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zbrojovka Brno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zbrojovka Brno can tell you which week it ends in.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Zbrojovka Brno, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Zbrojovka Brno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rubin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Petr Darida to a room that had heard them before.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Tihomir Kostadinov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zbrojovka Brno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑7 against Viktoria Plzen, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jakub Pokorný 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Zbrojovka Brno and Viktoria Plzen, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Erik Bodencer 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zbrojovka Brno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karel Sykora and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 4 years.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zbrojovka Brno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zbrojovka Brno can pretend not to have heard.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zbrojovka Brno can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Bodencer 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zbrojovka Brno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Patrik Žitný 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 10, 18 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Petr Darida after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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 Adam Hrdina is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zbrojovka Brno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Zbrojovka Brno are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Petr Darida left the room before anybody could ask which.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑5 to Slavia Prague, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Erik Bodencer 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
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 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Petr Darida to a room that had heard them before.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zbrojovka Brno will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Zbrojovka Brno, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexis Alégué and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Zbrojovka Brno game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rubin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Petr Darida after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Pribram spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Zbrojovka Brno will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Petr Darida, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Erik Bodencer 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Petr Darida on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zbrojovka Brno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Jakub Pokorný 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zbrojovka Brno can pretend not to have heard.
Erik Bodencer 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.16. 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Petr Darida could afford to be generous.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dukla Prague waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: RB Leipzig keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bienvenue Kanakimana and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 4 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Erik Bodencer 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zbrojovka Brno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martin Gjorgievski provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.84, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The clubs have shaken hands with Slavia Prague; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Zbrojovka Brno are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bienvenue Kanakimana. 3‑1 against Slovan Liberec, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RB Leipzig have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
0‑3 to Viktoria Plzen, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zbrojovka Brno can pretend not to have heard.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Bodencer 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.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Zbrojovka Brno have made the call to RB Leipzig. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cukaricki waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.35 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Petr Ševčík 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 easiest signature of my career.” Filip Vedral and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
A 2‑1 win over Slovacko, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings5 Aug 2030
Amadou Danté was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe game went through Oliver Velich — 6.87
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zbrojovka Brno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Jakub Pokorný 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 phone has started ringing about Damian Čech again, and this time the name on the line is IMT. Zbrojovka Brno are listening politely and promising nothing.
Zbrojovka Brno and Slavia Prague have settled on $660.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jakub Pokorný 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.
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.
Zbrojovka Brno asked and Manchester United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vaclav Masopust is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Sima has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. David Darida is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zbrojovka Brno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Petr Ševčík 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.
At 21 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jakub Klíma commits to Zbrojovka Brno for another 3 years.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Jakub Pokorný 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.
Zbrojovka Brno asked and Tottenham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
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 Martin Rymarenko is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zbrojovka Brno have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Zbrojovka Brno had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at RB Leipzig, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Maccabi Petach Tikva have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Damian Čech. The answer from Zbrojovka Brno has not changed — yet.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Lukáš Hrbáček has written the date down.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zbrojovka Brno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zbrojovka Brno can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Slavia Prague is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Zbrojovka Brno asked and Manchester United 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 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zbrojovka Brno have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Zbrojovka Brno had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Feyenoord, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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 Zbrojovka Brno know it.
Petr Ševčík was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
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 Tihomir Kostadinov is on it.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zbrojovka Brno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slovacko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything agreed with Feyenoord, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Bodencer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno 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.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zbrojovka Brno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Patrik Žitný 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Jakub Pokorný 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.
Add another name to the list: Slovacko have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Colin Andrew. The answer from Zbrojovka Brno has not changed — yet.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zbrojovka Brno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Bodencer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno 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.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zbrojovka Brno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Martin Rymarenko is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zbrojovka Brno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zbrojovka Brno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Zbrojovka Brno can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Patrik Žitný has his answer from Zbrojovka Brno; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zbrojovka Brno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Bodencer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zbrojovka Brno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marek Křiklava and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 4 years.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zbrojovka Brno. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 117 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Erik Bodencer 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Jakub Pokorný 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.
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.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zbrojovka Brno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Bodencer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
132 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zbrojovka Brno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Erik Bodencer 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Erik Bodencer 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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
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 Tihomir Kostadinov is on it.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Zbrojovka Brno would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Damian Čech trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Amadou Danté has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Bodencer 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.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno 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.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zbrojovka Brno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zbrojovka Brno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Jakub Pokorný 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zbrojovka Brno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Pokorný and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Bodencer 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.
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 Tihomir Kostadinov is on it.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ondřej Mráček and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 4 years.
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 Martin Rymarenko is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zbrojovka Brno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Jakub Pešek has written the date down.
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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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 Zbrojovka Brno know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marek Císař commits to Zbrojovka Brno for another 4 years.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Petr Darida to a room that had heard them before.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Zbrojovka Brno 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.
Jakub Pokorný 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Jablonec had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
0‑3 to Slavia Prague, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zbrojovka Brno will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zbrojovka Brno people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Petr Darida after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Slavia Prague.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Slavia Prague in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pribram waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zbrojovka Brno can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Bodencer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Zbrojovka Brno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oliver Velich. 2‑0 against Pribram, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martin Gjorgievski provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zbrojovka Brno can pretend not to have heard.
Patrik Žitný 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Martin Gjorgievski. 3‑2 against Jihlava, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno 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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zbrojovka Brno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zbrojovka Brno can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Bodencer 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.
Minute 88, against Dukla Prague, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
It needed Martin Rymarenko to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Dukla Prague, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Petr Darida after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zbrojovka Brno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Patrik Žitný 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Alexis Alégué scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Zlin, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Petr Darida to a room that had heard them before.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zbrojovka Brno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zbrojovka Brno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Bodencer 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.
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 Tihomir Kostadinov is on it.
0‑5 against Viktoria Plzen, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zbrojovka Brno can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Jakub Pokorný 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.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Something was said to Ondřej Pavlík and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Bodencer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout12 Nov 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Petr Darida chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tihomir Kostadinov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zbrojovka Brno needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Jakub Pokorný 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.
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.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Petr Darida chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Oliver Velich wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Oliver Velich found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Bohemians 1905 went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Colin Andrew will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zbrojovka Brno the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Zbrojovka Brno can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Erik Bodencer 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Erik Bodencer 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Jablonec had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Petr Darida was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Zbrojovka Brno dressing room was either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zbrojovka Brno have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Pokorný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Petr Darida after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alexis Alégué’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zbrojovka Brno needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zbrojovka Brno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jakub Pokorný and Zbrojovka Brno agree another 3 years.
“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 Zbrojovka Brno know it.
Petr Ševčík and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Jakub Pokorný 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zbrojovka Brno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zbrojovka Brno they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Petr Ševčík 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.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jakub Pešek has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zbrojovka Brno lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zbrojovka Brno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Zbrojovka Brno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Pokorný 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Jakub Pokorný 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.87, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout17 Sep 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Petr Darida to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Jihlava next, and one man in the Zbrojovka Brno dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.