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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Jakub Plšek falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
10 combined actions and 7.02. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
Namory Cissé 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.
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 16 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: Bohemians 1905 keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lukáš Váňa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Dukla Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Zlatan Šehović and Dukla Prague agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Transfer targetsThe window shuts on the Artem Dryakhlov deal
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mlada Boleslav is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
The deal with Jablonec 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 Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Jakub Kadák falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Dukla Prague and Bohemians 1905 have settled on $310.0K. 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.
Dukla Prague had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Slavia Prague, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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 Mlada Boleslav, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Mlada Boleslav; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Jakub Plšek 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. Sigma Olomouc have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
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 Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jakub Kadák. 2‑0 against Jihlava, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsMichal Černák beats them one at a time
“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 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mlada Boleslav, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pavel Gaszczyk and Dukla Prague agree another 4 years.
Zlatan Šehović 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Jakub Plšek 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. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Dukla Prague scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Slavia Prague is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dukla Prague know it.
A loan enquiry to Mlada Boleslav: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
“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 Bohemians 1905 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.
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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jakub Sima has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Martin Sima is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
Dukla Prague and Bohemians 1905 have settled on $310.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The 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.
“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.
Zlatan Šehović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dukla Prague asked and Mlada Boleslav said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Dukla Prague asked and Dinamo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vojtěch Gornický was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Alavés is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The phone has started ringing about Lukáš Váňa again, and this time the name on the line is Slovacko. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Jan Hájek has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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.
Everything agreed with Bohemians 1905, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Jakub Plšek 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. Jihlava have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with Sigma Olomouc, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Dukla Prague asked and Jablonec 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 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dukla Prague has been clear about where Fali stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 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.
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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with PAOK, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák 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 Edoardo Borrelli something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
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.
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.
“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.
Squad24 May 2032
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojtěch Gornický is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have 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.
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dukla Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dukla Prague know it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jakub Kadák is on it.
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.
“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 Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Richard Ramazanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Michal Černák
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Jakub Kadák falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It 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.
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 Oliver Velich has written the date down.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Jakub Kadák falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Kick Eerhart is on 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 Štěpán Hruban has written the date down.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Lukáš Váňa are not good
20 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Guilherme Gaspar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vojtěch Gornický was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dukla Prague are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
“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. Fali 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 Plšek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“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.
41 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.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“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 language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Dukla Prague would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guilherme Gaspar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Dukla Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Afolabi Soliu is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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 Vladimir Sykora is on it.
56 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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Jakub Kadák falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Filip Blecha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Štěpán Hruban has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Jakub Kadák falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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 Guilherme Gaspar is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Dukla Prague. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 27 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Afolabi Soliu has just signed for Dukla Prague, and for once the answer mattered.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sigma Olomouc keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The words a physio says slowly. 78 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Dukla Prague close the window on a squad of their own making
3 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with Mlada Boleslav, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The shirt still fits. Filip Zajíček is back at Dukla Prague, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Jakub Kadák falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
Everything agreed with Mlada Boleslav, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Jakub Kadák falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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.
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.
92 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 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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have 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.
“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.
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.
Dukla Prague had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Jablonec, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The words a physio says slowly. 107 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.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Legia have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Jakub Hastík has come up in conversations Dukla Prague were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
115 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Michal Černák in the middle of it, and Teplice unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojtěch Gornický 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.
122 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Michal Černák. 2‑1 against Zbrojovka Brno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Silvan Widmer has his answer from Dukla Prague; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Jakub Kadák falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Pavel Provod left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 138 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.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Pavel Provod left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Blecha dropped after a run of poor form
145 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Dukla Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jan Kozojed is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
152 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.48, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dukla Prague told Filip Blecha something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The words a physio says slowly. 159 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.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danijel Kolarić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dukla Prague know it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pavel Provod 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.
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.
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 Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“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 Jakub Kadák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dukla Prague can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Jakub Plšek falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There 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 used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dukla Prague can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek 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.
Half the programme played, position 12, 11 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pavel Provod after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
Somebody else is better right now than Filip Blecha
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.
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. Marián Tvrdoň will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Zlatan Šehović 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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Jakub Plšek falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Jakub Plšek falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Pavel Provod, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Dukla Prague will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Zlatan Šehović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.41 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Dukla Prague had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Pavel Provod chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dukla Prague told Olatoundji Tessilimi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dukla Prague people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dukla Prague will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marián Tvrdoň will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jan Bačkovský 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Jakub Plšek 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 8.21 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Teplice waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with Valencia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cesena keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Zlin moved on, Dominik Sváček reports back to Dukla Prague, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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 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.
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, wages agreed, and Zlin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 13 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.
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.
Dukla Prague offered $290.0K; Slovacko 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.
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.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vladimir Sykora did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
$290.0K on the table at Slovacko. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Zlatan Šehović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Jakub Plšek 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and HNK Gorica waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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 Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
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.
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.
Add another name to the list: FC Tokyo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Štěpán Hruban. The answer from Dukla Prague has not changed — yet.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Jablonec keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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 Aug 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oliver Velich, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Ayomide Abatan has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dukla Prague have done the hard part with Jablonec, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek 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.
Add another name to the list: Kryvbas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jan Hájek. The answer from Dukla Prague has not changed — yet.
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, wages agreed, and Haras El Hodoud waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dukla Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
$1.2M settles it between the clubs for Pol Tristán
Slavia Prague have accepted the money. What Dukla Prague do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
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 Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vladimir Sykora is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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, 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.
The phone has started ringing about Štěpán Hruban again, and this time the name on the line is Haras El Hodoud. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Zlatan Šehović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
14 academy players handed senior numbers at Dukla Prague
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Teplice 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Jablonec keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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 $130.0K; Banik Ostrava said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek 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 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.
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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák 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.
The offer from Rah Ahan for Jakub Hastík 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.
Zlatan Šehović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Dukla Prague have made the call to Gornik Zabrze. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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.
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.
Dukla Prague and Sigma Olomouc have settled on $2.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The 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.
Zlatan Šehović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Jun 2031
5 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jakub Hastík 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 Jakub Kadák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Slovacko will make the call about Dominik Sváček this week. Dukla Prague have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Matej Malenšek is somebody else's player now, and $433.3K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tomáš Buchwaldek is living that version at Dukla Prague, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer went to Slovacko this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Filip Blecha commits to Dukla Prague for another 2 years.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek 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.
“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 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.
Zlatan Šehović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” David Vydra and Dukla Prague agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. El Masry have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Sigma Olomouc 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Dukla Prague will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Vydra knocks on the manager's door
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Jan Hájek
“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 Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Kadák is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
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.
Zlatan Šehović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dukla Prague will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Blecha 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.
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.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek 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.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Kadák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dukla Prague are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abdallah Aberkane is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Zlatan Šehović 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek 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 Marián Tvrdoň 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 Guilherme Gaspar is on it.
Jan Bačkovský and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 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 Danijel Kolarić 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 Ondřej Miláček stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 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 Matěj Žitný has written the date down.
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.
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.
Zlatan Šehović 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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Jakub Plšek falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dukla Prague will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
Zlatan Šehović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Dukla Prague will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danijel Kolarić 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.
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.
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.
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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Jakub Plšek falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason 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.
Zlatan Šehović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dukla Prague know it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 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.
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.
Zlatan Šehović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Jakub Plšek 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.
“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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Dukla Prague. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
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.
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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek 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 Olympique de Marseille 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 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dukla Prague will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Dukla Prague asked and Jablonec 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Marián Tvrdoň will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dukla Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jakub Plšek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
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.
Something was said to Jakub Kadák and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutOliver Velich asks for a word with the manager
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.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Dukla Prague close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 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.
Zlatan Šehović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sigma Olomouc have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Slovan Liberec will replay every second of the added time for a week.
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.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
$97.0K settles it between the clubs for Daniel Schick
Zlin have accepted the money. What Dukla Prague do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mlada Boleslav is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Twardzik and Dukla Prague agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Jakub Plšek 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Teplice 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danijel Kolarić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
$480.0K settles it between the clubs for John Dembe
Sigma Olomouc have accepted the money. What Dukla Prague do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Dukla Prague asked and Jablonec said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Club Brugge is saying, and nobody at Dukla Prague is enjoying the guessing.
Jan Bačkovský 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 shirt still fits. Stanley Amuzie is back at Dukla Prague, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Maksym Bukatyi 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 Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Zlatan Šehović 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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Jakub Plšek 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 easiest signature of my career.” Stanley Nwabali and Dukla Prague agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Club Brugge 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 dugout6 Jan 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pavel Provod was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Dukla Prague dressing room was either.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Abdallah Aberkane has just signed for Dukla Prague, and for once the answer mattered.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dukla Prague know it.
“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 dugout30 Dec 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pavel Provod was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Dukla Prague dressing room was either.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Teplice defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zlatan Šehović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pavel Provod after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
1‑4 against Slavia Prague, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Jakub Plšek and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danijel Kolarić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pavel Provod after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Zlatan Šehović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pavel Provod after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sparta Prague defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It 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 Nov 2030
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
A 1‑1 draw with Pribram leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Pavel Provod chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
5 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.
Zlatan Šehović 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 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.
50 games in 214 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
Player ratings18 Nov 2030
Michal Černák was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jakub Kadák
Zlatan Šehović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Plšek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dukla Prague are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
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.” Pavel Provod kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
In brief
The dugoutOliver Velich asks for a word with the manager
“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 easiest signature of my career.” Filip Blecha and Dukla Prague agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Jakub Plšek 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: 20. 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.
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 Danijel Kolarić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.29 — 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.
Position 7, 22 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.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
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.” Pavel Provod kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dukla Prague told Segun Olurontoba something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dukla Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Plšek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Pavel Provod on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Something was said to Namory Cissé and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.