Jablonec and Zbrojovka Brno have settled on $480.0K. 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jan Chramosta 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 Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Slovan Liberec scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
8 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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jan Hanuš
“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 The request is on a desk at Jablonec, and it is not being withdrawn.
18 combined actions and 6.94. 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.
Jan Chramosta and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Matěj Polidar is a Jablonec player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Lavrinčík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jablonec have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
$610.0K on the table at Zbrojovka Brno. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.91 beside his name.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Jablonec and Slovacko, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 36, 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 Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$360.0K was the most the club would pay and Slovan Liberec were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 94, against Mlada Boleslav, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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 offer went to Viktoria Plzen 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.
The fee is $760.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Teplice drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Zbrojovka Brno wanted more than $660.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Jan Chramosta 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 Jul 2027
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Lavrinčík 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.
Work is signed off on a capacity of 4112. It is the sort of decision a club is judged on twenty years later, by people who were not there when it was taken.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Jablonec 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 right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The deal with Teplice is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Jan Chramosta 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.
$450.0K was the most the club would pay and Slovan Liberec were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Teplice have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vaclav Schick is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stanislav Sima is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vladimir Krejci has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Sobol 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 Saidou Alioum again, and this time the name on the line is Esteghlal Khuzestan. Jablonec are listening politely and promising nothing.
$330.0K on the table at Slovan Liberec. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$74.0K on the table at Slovan Liberec. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Jablonec will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Eduard Sobol 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 offer went to Sparta Prague 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Efe Lucky was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Jablonec 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 Jablonec, 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 Jablonec. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Jablonec had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Legia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Jan Chramosta 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Michal Kukučka has improved at 25, 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Sobol 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 Jablonec 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 David Planka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
Jan Chramosta 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. Teplice have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pavel Darida has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vladimir Soucek is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Jablonec will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Planka asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
Jablonec asked and Pogon 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 Efe Lucky was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Saidou Alioum is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 Garang Kuol is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jablonec, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec 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 Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
2 appearances and 1 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Jablonec no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
Nobody at Jablonec 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 Jablonec, 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 Jablonec. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Jan Chramosta has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Jan Chramosta 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.
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 Sebastian Nebyla is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Planka signs something — a contract at Jablonec or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Lamin Jawo 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 Samuel Lavrinčík was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jablonec, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jablonec 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 Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Matej Masopust is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Jablonec know it.
Nobody at Jablonec 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 Sebastian Nebyla trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec 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 Jablonec 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 Nemanja Tekijaški was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 9 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jan Chramosta 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Lavrinčík, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Efe Lucky 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Jan Chramosta 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.
Nobody at Jablonec 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A last season at home is what Tunde Micheal is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jablonec, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jablonec 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 Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Filip Novák has his answer from Jablonec; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Novák trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Jan Chramosta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Filip Novák 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 9 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
“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; Jablonec are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The captaincy has been taken off Vakhtang Chanturishvili. Jablonec will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jablonec, and both men came out saying it was fine.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Lamin Jawo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Sebastian Nebyla is on it.
Jan Chramosta 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 Nemanja Tekijaški was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Jablonec will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Samuel Lavrinčík has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutMichal Hošek knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Jablonec know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Hloušek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Jablonec 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jan Chramosta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Tekijaški is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vaclav Provod 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 9 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Planka asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutBeni Makouana has become a man the manager trusts
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jan Chramosta 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.
Something was said to Vakhtang Chanturishvili and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Sebastian Nebyla is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Planka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Ebrima Singhateh has moved up it.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jan Chramosta 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 Adam Hloušek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 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.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec 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 Nemanja Tekijaški 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; Jablonec are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Jablonec 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.
46 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Sparta Prague for Nassim Innocenti 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Jablonec is enjoying the guessing.
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.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Jablonec are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Jablonec close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Jan Chramosta 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 name of Nassim Innocenti has come up in conversations Jablonec were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Adam Hloušek 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. 70 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.
Jan Chramosta 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 Nemanja Tekijaški was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Slavia Prague have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dušan Pavlović. The answer from Jablonec has not changed — yet.
“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 dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ondrej Sykora left the room before anybody could ask which.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑5 to Slavia Prague, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jablonec can pretend not to have heard.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karel Soucek is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Eduard Sobol 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ondrej Sykora left the room before anybody could ask which.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Jablonec, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jan Chramosta 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 Nemanja Tekijaški 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; Jablonec are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Filip Novák.
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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ondrej Sykora was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Jablonec dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Novák dropped after a run of poor form
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jan Chramosta 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.
He is 22 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 5 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
10 goals in one match, Garang Kuol on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jablonec and Banik Ostrava.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Adam Hloušek 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
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 4‑6 Ondrej Sykora left the room before anybody could ask which.
113 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Jiri Barak has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Jan Chramosta 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 Nemanja Tekijaški was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jablonec lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jablonec have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jan Chramosta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Patrick Egeonu has just signed for Jablonec, and for once the answer mattered.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jan Chramosta. 3‑1 against Sigma Olomouc, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Something was said to Nemanja Tekijaški and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The words a physio says slowly. 136 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Jablonec scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Garang Kuol has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Tekijaški is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Jablonec will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutGarang Kuol has become a man the manager trusts
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Jan Chramosta will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Jablonec escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Jan Chramosta takes the afternoon — 8.70
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jan Chramosta provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jablonec have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Jan Chramosta 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. David Habila has, at Jablonec, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Pavel Brabec has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
David Planka, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Lamin Jawo 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 21 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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.67 at 36, 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 Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.74, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
16 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jiří Sláma, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Efe Lucky 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jablonec has been clear about where Adam Hloušek stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Jablonec will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Garang Kuol is on it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Jan Chramosta 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 Nemanja Tekijaški was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michal Vydra is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Krejci has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Jan Chramosta 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 first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Slavia Prague; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Sobol is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.23. 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Efe Lucky is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
Squad14 new faces, and Jablonec are still learning each other
Jan Chramosta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Lamin Jawo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.84. 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.
At 21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Sláma is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 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.
Lamin Jawo 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.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Jiří Sláma 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.55 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
$890.0K was the most the club would pay and Banik Ostrava were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Jan Chramosta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Michal Hošek has just signed for Jablonec, and for once the answer mattered.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
In brief
SquadWords at Jablonec training over how hard people work
$570.0K on the table at Banik Ostrava. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Jablonec offered $870.0K; Viktoria Plzen 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Jablonec 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 Filip Novák was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Two goals and a mark of 6.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Martin Cedidla was one of the reasons people came, and $9.9M does not replace that by itself.
The fee is $1.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Banik Ostrava drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
$440.0K on the table at Viktoria Plzen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
7 goals in one match, Garang Kuol on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jablonec and Teplice.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Zagreb waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jablonec is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Banik Ostrava; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Banik Ostrava for Matěj Polidar 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.
Jan Chramosta and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
$2.1M on the table at Banik Ostrava. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pogon is saying, and nobody at Jablonec 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 Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Jablonec asked and Slovacko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tomas Krejci has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vaclav Soucek has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matej Soucek 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.
Jan Chramosta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pandurii have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Jablonec 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.