David Zima 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 Serigne Fallou Mbacké Coly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Dukla Prague will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Viktoria Plzen next, and one man in the Dukla Prague dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dukla Prague has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rihards Matrevics signs something — a contract at Dukla Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matěj Kadlec will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague 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 Dukla Prague 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 Samson Tijani 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.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dukla Prague know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Dukla Prague could ask drops and the wages Petr Kodeš can ask rise.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Slovacko in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Position 14 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marek Hanousek will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Kreiker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
1 for Petr Kodeš, marked 7.45, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
David Zima 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 clock did what Mlada Boleslav would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Samson Tijani 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 point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Dukla Prague and Mlada Boleslav have settled on $490.0K. 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
David Zima 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Samson Tijani 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Jablonec scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dukla Prague, another week without a signature from Rajmund Mikuš.
0‑3 against Slavia Prague, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Vladimir Holes could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.46
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.46, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matěj Kadlec will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague 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 Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dukla Prague have gone to Zlin with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Petr Kodeš has his answer from Dukla Prague; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The offer from Banik Ostrava for Dario Kreiker 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mlada Boleslav have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$40.0K was the most the club would pay and Zlin were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dukla Prague they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dukla Prague have lost him in all but the paperwork.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dukla Prague can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
David Zima 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.
Dukla Prague have gone to Zlin with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Add another name to the list: Banik Ostrava have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dario Kreiker. The answer from Dukla Prague has not changed — yet.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
$80.0K settles it between the clubs for Simon Baroš
Banik Ostrava have accepted the money. What Dukla Prague do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
At 17 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.
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Zima 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 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.
Dukla Prague asked and HNK Gorica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Jihlava have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matěj Kadlec. The answer from Dukla Prague has not changed — yet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with HNK Gorica 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 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.
Day 12 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dukla Prague can tell you which week it ends in.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panserraikos have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“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.
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Dukla Prague will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tobias Barnáš is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
In brief
SquadSamson Tijani has improved at 27, which nobody expected
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
David Zima 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.
Dukla Prague asked and Zlin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Kreiker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dukla Prague have made the call to Lechia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Zima 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 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Dukla Prague asked and Slovacko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Dukla Prague have made the call to CFR Cluj. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with Botosani, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Zlatan Šehović has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Add another name to the list: Teplice have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Moses Nyebe. The answer from Dukla Prague has not changed — yet.
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panserraikos have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Dukla Prague know it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Kreiker 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Petr Kodeš trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
David Zima 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.
Dukla Prague asked and Karpaty 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Vladimir Holes 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. Jakub Vydra 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jan Jankto 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ondrej Holes 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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.
$32.0K settles it between the clubs for Ales Masopust
Zlin have accepted the money. What Dukla Prague do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
David Zima 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Jinřich Musil has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Dukla Prague have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Dukla Prague asked and AEK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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 is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Dukla Prague are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dukla Prague know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague 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 Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Namory Cissé for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Dukla Prague will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovacko have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Namory Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
David Zima 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dukla Prague they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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 Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Namory Cissé 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 Dukla Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Petr Kodeš has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
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 Pavel Vandas has written the date down.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dukla Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Miloš Kratochvíl and Dukla Prague agree another 2 years.
David Zima 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 Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
David Zima 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ander Marticorena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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 Dario Kreiker
Namory Cissé 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 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 Dukla Prague know 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 Boubou Diallo is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Dukla Prague. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Dario Kreiker has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Moses Nyebe’s negotiating for him
BoardroomThe Dukla Prague production line keeps running
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Zima 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 easiest signature of my career.” Rihards Matrevics and Dukla Prague agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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 Dukla Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Dukla Prague have no good answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
David Zima 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.” Rihards Matrevics and Dukla Prague agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ander Marticorena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Namory Cissé 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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Mar 2029
6 new faces, and Dukla Prague are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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 words a physio says slowly. 23 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 Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
David Zima 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.
Namory Cissé 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.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
David Zima 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dukla Prague, another week without a signature from Moses Nyebe.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Dukla Prague 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.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague 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 Dukla Prague 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 Namory Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Dukla Prague know 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 Dario Kreiker is on it.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
David Zima 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Dukla Prague will try again when the window opens; Sparta Prague may not be selling by then.
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.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Dukla Prague close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 9 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.
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.
David Zima 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.
Dukla Prague have gone to Sparta Prague with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ander Marticorena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Rajmund Mikuš is a Dukla Prague player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dukla Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Dukla Prague asked and Panserraikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Namory Cissé 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.
Dukla Prague have made the call to Slavia Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Dukla Prague 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.
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Martin Šubert is living that version at Dukla Prague, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague 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 Dukla Prague can tell you which week it ends in.
Dukla Prague asked and Sparta Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dukla Prague have made the call to Lechia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dukla Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7 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.
David Zima 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dukla Prague can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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 words a physio says slowly. 83 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 shaken hands with Sparta Prague; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
David Zima 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Zima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Namory Cissé 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 did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Matěj Žitný has his answer from Dukla Prague; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout1 Jan 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.” Antonin Stanek chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dukla Prague they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Samson Tijani 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Antonin Stanek after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dukla Prague told Matěj Žitný something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
David Zima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Namory Cissé 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 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 Dukla Prague know it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
David Zima 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák 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.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from San Marcos de Arica for Zlatan Šehović 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Sparta Prague left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Jakub Kadák was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutBoubou Diallo has become a man the manager trusts
Looking aheadThe leaders are next for Dukla Prague
129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dukla Prague they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Jakub Kadák was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.62. 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.
136 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
David Zima 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tomás Mendes has, at Dukla Prague, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Jakub Kadák 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 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.
144 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
David Zima 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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.
Marked 7.28 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Dukla Prague had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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.” Antonin Stanek chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other 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 Dario Kreiker is on it.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dukla Prague 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 Dukla Prague they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Namory Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
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.” Antonin Stanek chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Defo Conte has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 1‑0 win over Zlin, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dukla Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
David Zima 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
David Zima 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Namory Cissé 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dukla Prague are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Antonin Stanek was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Dukla Prague dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dukla Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Slovan Liberec? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dukla Prague they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Miloš Kratochvíl and Dukla Prague agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
David Zima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Samson Tijani 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Miloš Kratochvíl and Dukla Prague agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Slovacko, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Samson Tijani 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 dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Antonin Stanek left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Miloš Kratochvíl’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dukla Prague needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Dukla Prague than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
David Zima 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: Miloš Kratochvíl. 2‑1 against Mlada Boleslav, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Namory Cissé 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Antonin Stanek on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Rajmund Mikuš is on it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
David Zima 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jakub Kadák. 2‑0 against Teplice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Antonin Stanek on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vincent Akpikpi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague 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 Dukla Prague 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 Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$45.0K settles it between the clubs for Lukas Cerny
Sigma Olomouc have accepted the money. What Dukla Prague do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Dukla Prague 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Minsk for Fernando Gomes 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Michal Hošek 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.
4 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.
Banik Ostrava go through and Dukla Prague go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dukla Prague people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with HNK Gorica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
David Zima 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 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Sigma Olomouc, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
David Zima 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 20 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.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Bohemians 1905 paid $520.0K and Dukla Prague took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Dukla Prague asked and Chornomorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
14 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Pribram were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Boubou Diallo and Dukla Prague agree another 4 years.
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.
Dukla Prague have gone to Bohemians 1905 with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Dukla Prague offered $41.0K; Sigma Olomouc said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dukla Prague people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dukla Prague will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dukla Prague can tell you which week it ends in.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Moses Nyebe is living that version at Dukla Prague, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Vincent Akpikpi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dukla Prague 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 Dukla Prague people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
David Zima 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tommaso Lemmetti is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sigma Olomouc have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
12 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 Dukla Prague will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dukla Prague can tell you which week it ends in.
David Zima 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.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad24 Jul 2028
David Zima has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with Chornomorets, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dukla Prague will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Bohemians 1905 for Chinonso Emeka 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.
The offer went to Sigma Olomouc this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Dukla Prague asked and Bohemians 1905 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Zima signs something — a contract at Dukla Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Dukla Prague can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dukla Prague 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 Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
David Zima 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sigma Olomouc have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Chinonso Emeka has come up in conversations Dukla Prague were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Namory Cissé 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves David Zima exposed
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Banik Ostrava for Olatoundji Tessilimi 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.
Everything agreed with Sparta Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
David Zima 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Samson Tijani 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.
Dukla Prague have made the call to Teplice. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have shaken hands with Slovan Liberec; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Banik Ostrava have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Olatoundji Tessilimi. The answer from Dukla Prague has not changed — yet.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Samson Tijani 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.
Dukla Prague have made the call to Panserraikos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Rajmund Mikuš is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dukla Prague know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutBoubou Diallo knocks on the manager’s door
Dukla Prague and Sparta Prague have settled on $260.0K. 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with NK Celje, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Namory Cissé 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Zima signs something — a contract at Dukla Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Dukla Prague 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Dukla Prague can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
David Zima 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Adam Jánoš has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Dukla Prague have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovacko have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Samson Tijani 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dukla Prague are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Dukla Prague have made the call to NK Celje. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Zima 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 Samson Tijani 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 Boubou Diallo is on it.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Dukla Prague have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
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 Serigne Fallou Mbacké Coly has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Namory Cissé 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. Dukla Prague know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
David Zima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
Samson Tijani 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Zima signs something — a contract at Dukla Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Dario Kreiker 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 Dukla Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dukla Prague has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Boubou Diallo has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
David Zima 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 May 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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 change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is David Zima's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dukla Prague, another week without a signature from Michal Hošek.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Dukla Prague would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
David Zima 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Namory Cissé 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 squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. David Zima was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Nobody at Dukla Prague 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dukla Prague has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“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 Dukla Prague, 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 Dukla Prague 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 Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dukla Prague 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Zima signs something — a contract at Dukla Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Dukla Prague 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.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Dukla Prague and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
24 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.
In brief
SquadJakub Kadák is the talk of the training ground
David Zima 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 Dario Kreiker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Vácha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Dukla Prague is running low.
David Zima 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 Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Dukla Prague are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Dukla Prague 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dukla Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Dukla Prague, 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 Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samson Tijani 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 Rajmund Mikuš is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dukla Prague know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutTidjane Traoré asks for a word with the manager
David Zima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Namory Cissé 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Zima signs something — a contract at Dukla Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Dario Kreiker 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 Dukla Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
David Zima 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Samson Tijani 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Boubou Diallo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Dukla Prague is running low.
David Zima 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Dukla Prague will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dukla Prague 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.
“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 Dukla Prague, 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 Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Namory Cissé 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 Rajmund Mikuš is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dukla Prague know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutDario Kreiker knocks on the manager's door
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diego Velasquez and Dukla Prague agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Zima signs something — a contract at Dukla Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Dario Kreiker is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samson Tijani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Dukla Prague would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Position 12 on 24 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
David Zima 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 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.
Dukla Prague asked and Slovan Liberec said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Samson Tijani 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 run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Dukla Prague are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Dukla Prague close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 8 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.
David Zima 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tommaso Lemmetti has just signed for Dukla Prague, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dukla Prague has been clear about where Jakub Plšek stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Namory Cissé 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.
Everything agreed with Lokomotiv Moscow, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Fernando Gomes has, at Dukla Prague, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Dukla Prague asked and Mlada Boleslav 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. Matej Cerny is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matej 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. Michal Darida 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dukla Prague asked and Zbrojovka Brno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani 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.” Antonin Stanek after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A loan enquiry to Lokomotiv Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
David Zima 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.
Dukla Prague asked and Rostov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Namory Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to Spartak Trnava: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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 Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Sigma Olomouc, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
David Zima 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovan Liberec have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Namory Cissé and Dukla Prague agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Samson Tijani 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
David Zima 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.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Troise will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Plšek 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.
4 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Matěj Kadlec has, at Dukla Prague, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Zbrojovka Brno left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Namory Cissé 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Zlatan Šehović had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague 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 Namory Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Antonin Stanek to a room that had heard them before.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 2 saves does not settle it either way.
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 phone has started ringing about Zlatan Šehović again, and this time the name on the line is Iquique. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
David Zima 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 Namory Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Dukla Prague are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Vácha and Dukla Prague agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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 Antonin Stanek left the room before anybody could ask which.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dukla Prague they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Zima 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 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.40 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Tijani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Namory Cissé 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.” Charlie Wilson and Dukla Prague agree another 4 years.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Antonin Stanek after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Namory Cissé 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Antonin Stanek was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Dukla Prague dressing room was either.
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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Banik Ostrava defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
Jihlava next, and one man in the Dukla Prague dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Jakub Plšek 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 Nov 2027
Samson Tijani 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
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.