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 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.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.
Jakub Kadák 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 Apr 2030
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zlatan Šehović 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 rules permit it and it stings anyway. Tomáš Jedlička has agreed terms with Banik Ostrava for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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 Zlatan Šehović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dukla Prague will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
Filip Špatenka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Mar 2030
David Lischka 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Špatenka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 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.
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.
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.
Jakub Kadák 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 Mar 2030
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zlatan Šehović 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 David Idowu.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Špatenka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 32 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Dukla Prague
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zlatan Šehović 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.
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 Feb 2030
David Lischka 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: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Petr Schick and Dukla Prague agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Matej Vydra was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Dukla Prague dressing room was either.
“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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandru Cicâldău and Dukla Prague agree another 3 years.
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 clock did what České Budějovice would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Jakub Kadák was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jakub Kadák 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 Zlatan Šehović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dukla Prague asked and Slavia 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.
Dukla Prague ran out of time with Slovacko. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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.
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.
The deal with České Budějovice died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Dukla Prague close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything agreed with České Budějovice, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dynamo Kyiv is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
Jakub Kadák 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Milan Gajić commits to Dukla Prague for another 2 years.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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 clubs have shaken hands with Slovacko; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jan Zíka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with České Budějovice, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zlatan Šehović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 offered $35.0K; Viktoria Žižkov 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
$35.0K on the table at Viktoria Žižkov. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leo Bengtsson and Dukla Prague agree another 3 years.
Squad14 Jan 2030
David Lischka 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
“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 Dynamo Kyiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Filip Špatenka 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 Zlatan Šehović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dukla Prague can tell you which week it ends in.
“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 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Dukla Prague is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zlatan Šehović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dukla Prague told Jan Bačkovský something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
David Lischka 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.
Everybody at Dukla Prague saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“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.
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.
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.
Jakub Kadák 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 Zlatan Šehović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
25 shut-outs in 206 appearances. A keeper’s career is counted in games where nothing happened, and none of it happened by accident.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Matej Vydra kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Emir Azemović's mistake
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.
“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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jakub Štěpánek is living that version at Dukla Prague, and it tends to show in the first month.
Jakub Kadák 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 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dukla Prague will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jan Zíka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 6.89 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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.
Ikenna Benjamin 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dukla Prague will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filip Lehký will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Filip Špatenka 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zlatan Šehović 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 easiest signature of my career.” Sverre Fauskanger-Lindberg and Dukla Prague agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Emir Azemović is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
“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.
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 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.
“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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. David Krch is living that version at Dukla Prague, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sparta Prague go through and Dukla Prague go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Jakub Kadák had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Slovan Liberec were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 Zlatan Šehović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Matej Vydra after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Slovan Liberec 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filip Lehký will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Kadák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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.
“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.
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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marek Hanousek’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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Jurčenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Kadák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zlatan Šehović 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is David Lischka’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.
“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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sverre Fauskanger-Lindberg has just signed for Dukla Prague, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zlatan Šehović 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Matej Vydra to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and Dukla Prague are still learning each other
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Pardubice will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Patrick Obermüller has, at Dukla Prague, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dukla Prague has been clear about where Jan Bačkovský stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Filip Lehký will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Kadák 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. Tyrese Yeboah has, at Dukla Prague, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zlatan Šehović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Jakub Kadák had Dukla Prague level again within 4 minutes, and Zbrojovka Brno never got to play with a lead at all.
The mood at Dukla Prague has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
“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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Filip Lehký 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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
Hradec Králové left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eliáš Piták 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.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Opava waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Filip Špatenka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2029
David Lischka 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.
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.
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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Sigma Olomouc moved on, Jan Bačkovský reports back to Dukla Prague, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 18 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Dukla Prague had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sigma Olomouc, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
David Lischka 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 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Dukla Prague will try again when the window opens; Pribram may not be selling by then.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Filip Lehký obliged against Zbrojovka Brno. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Dukla Prague.
“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 name of Jan Bačkovský has come up in conversations Dukla Prague were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
$35.0K was the most the club would pay and Viktoria Žižkov 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.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Dukla Prague interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Matej Vydra keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jan Bačkovský will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Jakub Kadák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some 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 gone to Viktoria Žižkov 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, wages agreed, and Opava waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The phone has started ringing about Boubou Diallo again, and this time the name on the line is Sigma Olomouc. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Filip Špatenka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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 asked and Banik Ostrava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sigma Olomouc waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with Banik Ostrava, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
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.
“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.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A brace, and Boubou Diallo takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Boubou Diallo provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Minyor Pernik for Kaloyan Simeonov 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.
Jakub Kadák 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 David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
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.
“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.
Jakub Kadák 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, wages agreed, and Pardubice waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
Dukla Prague and Teplice have settled on $150.0K. 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.
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.
Dukla Prague asked and Korona 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 Eliáš Piták was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 name of Boubou Diallo has come up in conversations Dukla Prague were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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 asked and Viktoria Žižkov 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 Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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.
Jakub Kadák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Jul 2029
David Lischka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
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.
In brief
The dugoutZlatan Šehović loses the manager who believed in him
The dugoutJakub Selnar knocks on the manager's door
Supporters organise against the Dukla Prague board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
Filip Špatenka 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. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Eliáš Piták 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jan Bačkovský trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 dugout25 Jun 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Kelle Roos's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jan Zíka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sparta Prague is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and České Budějovice waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
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 name of Boubou Diallo has come up in conversations Dukla Prague were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
David Lischka 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 asked and Legia 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 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.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
The phone has started ringing about Jan Bačkovský again, and this time the name on the line is České Budějovice. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Didi Naarendorp has just signed for Dukla Prague, and for once the answer mattered.
Jakub Kadák 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. 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 Eliáš Piták was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Milan Gajić exposed
148Edition
The Dukla Prague Gazette
28 May 2029
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces28 May 2029
The mood at Dukla Prague has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dukla Prague had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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 Jan Zíka is on it.
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.
Jakub Kadák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Lischka 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 Jan Kozojed is on it.
In brief
The dugoutKelle Roos is still being punished for one mistake
The dugoutJakub Selnar knocks on the manager's door
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.
Jakub Kadák 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 Eliáš Piták was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
“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.
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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Milan Gajić has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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 Jakub Kadák is on it.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Zlatan Šehović is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The mood at Dukla Prague has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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.
Jakub Kadák and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
David Lischka 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Dukla Prague is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad30 Apr 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.
In brief
The dugoutHilary Gong knocks on the manager’s door
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jan Zíka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Kadák 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eliáš Piták 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.
“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.
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.
“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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Hilary Gong 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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dukla Prague can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutJan Bačkovský knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
David Lischka 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Milan Gajić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The mood at Dukla Prague has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Patrik Sima has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“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.
“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 Eliáš Piták was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“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.
Jakub Kadák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Mar 2029
David Lischka 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.
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.
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 Filip Špatenka has written the date down.
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.
“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.
Filip Špatenka 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.
“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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The phone has started ringing about Jan Bačkovský again, and this time the name on the line is Degerfors. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Branislav Sokol 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eliáš Piták was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dukla Prague told Jakub Plšek something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Jakub Kadák is on it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Patrik Sima has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 32 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Jakub Kadák and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jakub Plšek has his answer from Dukla Prague; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
19 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.
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jan Zíka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Kadák 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 David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
27 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.
Jakub Kadák 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Boubou Diallo has his answer from Dukla Prague; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dukla Prague can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Filip Lehký is a Dukla Prague player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Patrik Sima has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The terraces5 Feb 2029
The mood at Dukla Prague has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The offer from Sigma Olomouc for Boubou Diallo 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.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $22.7K of what Dukla Prague paid for Jakub Dostál is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The phone has started ringing about Jan Bačkovský again, and this time the name on the line is Jablonec. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Dukla Prague close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 5 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.
“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.
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.
Filip Špatenka 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 Slavia 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.
Dukla Prague asked and Viktoria Plzen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadWords at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
“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 phone has started ringing about Boubou Diallo again, and this time the name on the line is Slovan Liberec. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
Jakub Kadák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Jan 2029
David Lischka 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 asked and Sigma Olomouc said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
“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.
Dukla Prague had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Prostějov, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dukla Prague can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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 Jagiellonia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The mood at Dukla Prague has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Patrik Sima has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pribram waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The phone has started ringing about Jan Bačkovský again, and this time the name on the line is Slovacko. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
The deal with Sparta Prague is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Dukla Prague asked and Táborsko 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dukla Prague had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.98, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Filip Špatenka 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 David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joss Didiba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Kadák 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Dukla Prague had all but put away. Opava will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Eliáš Piták 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.
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.
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 Jakub Kadák is on it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dukla Prague told Jan Kozojed something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
A brace, and Jakub Kadák takes the afternoon — 8.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jakub Kadák provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dukla Prague can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Filip Špatenka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 2‑1 win over Bohemians 1905, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Bohemians 1905 spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Something was said to Filip Špatenka and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 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.
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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
David Lischka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7.79, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Jakub Kadák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.31 — 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 Eliáš Piták was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
David Lischka 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
8 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jan Bačkovský trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Kelle Roos is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Jablonec in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Joss Didiba’s negotiating for him
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dukla Prague can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad13 Nov 2028
David Lischka 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.
Position 12, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“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 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.
“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.
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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joss Didiba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Kadák 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. Lukáš Domaniský has, at Dukla Prague, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad30 Oct 2028
David Lischka 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.” Patrik Sima after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 Jan Kozojed is on it.
“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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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.
0‑1 to Mlada Boleslav, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Patrik Sima to a room that had heard them 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
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.
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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacques Fokam Sandeu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Kelle Roos's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jakub Kadák signs something — a contract at Dukla Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutHilary Gong knocks on the manager’s door
20 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 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.
“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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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.
27 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joss Didiba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jakub Kadák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Oct 2028
David Lischka 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Dukla Prague, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joss Didiba has his answer from Dukla Prague; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
34 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.
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.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutLadislav Mužík dropped after a run of poor form
SquadWords at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
42 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. Filip Špatenka is living that version at Dukla Prague, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sparta Prague is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Filip Špatenka is a Dukla Prague player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
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.
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.
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 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Soufiane Ben Addi 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.
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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Joss Didiba 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.
In brief
The dugoutJakub Kadák has become a man the manager trusts
61 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.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $188.8K of what Dukla Prague paid for Tyrese Omotoye is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 20 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 had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zenit keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Niccolò Canzian is living that version at Dukla Prague, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
68 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.
0‑3 against Sparta Prague, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The offer from Karviná for Boubou Diallo 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.
“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.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
“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 phone has started ringing about Boubou Diallo again, and this time the name on the line is Karviná. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
7.90, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Squad21 Aug 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Dukla Prague is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
“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.
Michal Kroupa has gone, the accounts have $630.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
Sigma Olomouc paid $630.0K 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.
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 asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
91 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.
“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.
10 seasons and 208 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Slavia Sofia is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dukla Prague can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Jakub Kadák 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 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.
99 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.
“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 offer from Sigma Olomouc for Michal Kroupa 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.
Jakub Kadák and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jul 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 Zlatan Šehović is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMarek Hanousek asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Ladislav Mužík
104Edition
The Dukla Prague Gazette
24 Jul 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces24 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Dukla Prague board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
“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 offer from Hradec Králové for Michal Černák 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.
“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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 6.87, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 113 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.
Position 14 and 25 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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 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 words a physio says slowly. 121 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.
“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 Slovacko for Tomáš Jedlička 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 had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slavia Sofia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jakub Kadák 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.
“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.
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 asked and Panathinaikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 130 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 right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Patrik Sima has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Mlada Boleslav pay $360.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad3 Jul 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.
Slavia Sofia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Zlatan Šehović exposed
100Edition
The Dukla Prague Gazette
26 Jun 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces26 Jun 2028
Supporters organise against the Dukla Prague board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
137 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.
The deal with Slavia Prague is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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 David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutZlatan Šehović has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutTidjane Traoré is still being punished for one mistake
The dugoutJan Bačkovský knocks on the manager's door
145 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slovacko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
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.
152 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 deal with Teplice 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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
Add another name to the list: Slovacko have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tomáš Jedlička. The answer from Dukla Prague has not changed — yet.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dukla Prague can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ladislav Mužík 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 loan enquiry to Viktoria Plzen: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 Jakub Kadák is on it.
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.
“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 deal with Viktoria Plzen 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Lischka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dukla Prague has been clear about where Jaroslav Svozil stands, which is more than many ever get.
Slavia Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Dukla Prague
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“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.
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.
Samson Tijani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Lischka 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.
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 Rihards Matrevics trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Jakub Kadák 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
“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.
Jakub Kadák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dukla Prague can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dukla Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 Jan Zíka.