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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jiří Sláma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sebastian Nebyla and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Filip Ret 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Novák 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 dugout1 Nov 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 2‑3 Stanislav Provod left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutJan Hanuš dropped after a run of poor form
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Štěpán Beran
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jablonec 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 Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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.” Stanislav Provod, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Stanislav Provod to a room that had heard them before.
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.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
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.
In brief
The dugoutEduard Sobol is still being punished for one mistake
Player ratingsSaidou Alioum beats them one at a time
Sebastian Nebyla was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every 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 Eduard Sobol is on it.
Sparta Prague next, and one man in the Jablonec dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Artis Brno suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Jablonec, and the summer will force it.
“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 Jablonec will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jablonec is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
11 combined actions and 6.80. 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.
Squad4 Oct 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 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.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
Matej Franko is tired of being somebody else's player
“Another season, another badge, another dressing room to win over. I would like one pre-season at Jablonec where somebody actually looks at me.” He belongs to Arka Gdynia until the spell ends; the argument is with the club that owns him.
David Nykrín 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 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.
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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Klemen Mihelak knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Stanislav Provod to a room that had heard them before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Klemen Mihelak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sebastian Nebyla. 1‑0 against Dukla Prague, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
9 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.
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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Stanislav Provod could afford to be generous.
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.
Sebastian Nebyla 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. Prostějov 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 Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Jablonec had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Foolad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jablonec asked and Juve Stabia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Jablonec close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 20 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.
Sebastian Nebyla 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 Eduard Sobol 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. Karel Rožánek 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 Saidou Alioum is on it.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Zorvan knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marek Křiklava is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jablonec has been clear about where Daniel Souček stands, which is more than many ever get.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Jablonec can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Zorvan knocks on the manager's door
Dukla Prague go through and Jablonec go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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.
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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad23 Aug 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sebastian Nebyla provided it, and the 8.31 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.
The fee is $140.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Táborsko drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Matej Malenšek 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Slovacko; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sebastian Nebyla 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stanislav Provod after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 1‑0 win over Mlada Boleslav, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
“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.
Nemanja Tekijaški and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jablonec can tell you which week it ends in.
Jablonec asked and Artis Brno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 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.
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.
Zlate Moravce 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.
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.
“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.
Everything agreed with Artis Brno, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Sebastian Nebyla 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.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ondrej Cerny 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jiří Sláma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Sebastian Nebyla 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 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.
“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.
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.
The deal with Prostějov 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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Richard Sedláček has his answer from Jablonec; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jan Suchan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
In brief
The dugoutSaidou Alioum asks for a word with the manager
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The name of Ebrima Singhateh has come up in conversations Jablonec were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Matěj Polidar 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 Jun 2027
5 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.
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.
“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 Jablonec will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Nykrín knocks on the manager’s door
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jablonec people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Shooting Stars for Nelson Okeke 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.
Sebastian Nebyla 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.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Jablonec is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
$57.0K was the most the club would pay and Zlin were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“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.
The enquiry everybody at Jablonec was hoping would not arrive has arrived. He has never pretended he did not want to go back, and now there is somewhere to go back to.
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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Podbrezova had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Jablonec offered $3.3M; Slavia Prague 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jiří Sláma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sebastian Nebyla 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 Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sparta Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutDušan Pavlović has become a man the manager trusts
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Jablonec have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Add another name to the list: Opava have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dušan Pavlović. The answer from Jablonec has not changed — yet.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dušan Pavlović and Jablonec agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hais 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Richard Sedláček is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Filip Zorvan 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 Matej Franko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
3 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Jablonec, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sebastian Nebyla 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 medical room confirms 52 days on the sidelines for Vladimir Coufal, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 May 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Zorvan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hais was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Jablonec game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Puskas Akademia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
David Nykrín 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 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 Dominik Hollý is on 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.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jablonec. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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 Daniel Hais was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jablonec, another week without a signature from Daniel Hais.
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.
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.
Sebastian Nebyla was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Daniel Hais 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 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Martin Cedidla's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jablonec know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dominik Hollý has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Jablonec the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Position 10 on 35 points, with the season drifting toward the summer. It is the safest place in football and the hardest one to sell a season ticket from.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sebastian Nebyla 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.
“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 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.
Squad19 Apr 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.
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.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Filip Zorvan has written the date down.
“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.
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.
Squad12 Apr 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.
“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.
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.
The offer from Ranheim for Daniel Hais was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
At 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.
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.
Sebastian Nebyla 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
Daniel Hais 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 Eduard Sobol is on it.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
Squad29 Mar 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Martin Cedidla's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jablonec they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
David Nykrín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jablonec know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Jablonec would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
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 Daniel Souček has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 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 Daniel Hais was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jablonec can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Saidou Alioum is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Martin Cedidla signs something — a contract at Jablonec or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jablonec can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Jablonec will have this month.
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 Eduard Sobol is on it.
Sebastian Nebyla and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jablonec can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
0‑2 to Pardubice, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Mar 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jan Chramosta will call it something else in private.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Martin Cedidla's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Stanislav Provod to a room that had heard them before.
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
MarketAlbert Kotlín returns from a loan that taught him nothing
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jiří Sláma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Sebastian Nebyla 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Daniel Hais falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 6 appearances in 27 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jablonec told Daniel Souček something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 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.
“I watch every Jablonec game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vlašim runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad15 Feb 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.
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.
Garang Kuol 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 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.
Slovan Liberec made Jablonec work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad8 Feb 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Jablonec have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The bid was some way short and Jablonec did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Jablonec 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.
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. Getafe have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hais 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Mlada Boleslav the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Jablonec will enjoy reviewing.
Sebastian Nebyla 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. Pardubice 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 Eduard Sobol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filip Zorvan, and the manager let it.
Squad18 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.
Minute 86, against Karviná, 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.
“I watch every Jablonec game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vlašim runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The name of Nassim Innocenti has come up in conversations Jablonec were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Dukla Prague left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hais 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 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.
The name of Richard Sedláček has come up in conversations Jablonec were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Sebastian Nebyla 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. Dukla Prague have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
18 appearances and 5 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Squad4 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.
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.
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hais 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 watch every Jablonec game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Opava runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Saidou Alioum 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.
Slavia Prague left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Daniel Hais falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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 0‑1 Stanislav Provod left the room before anybody could ask which.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Filip Zorvan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jablonec needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Garang Kuol decided nobody was going anywhere. Sparta Prague had no time left to answer.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jablonec can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Eduard Sobol and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a 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.
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.
“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.
Sebastian Nebyla and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A 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. 14 actions, 6.91, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hais 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.” Stanislav Provod after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
Sebastian Nebyla 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 Daniel Hais was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 8, 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.
“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 4 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.” Stanislav Provod chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Filip Novák
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.
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 did not go to Vlašim to sit and watch. I want to come back to Jablonec and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout23 Nov 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 1‑2 Stanislav Provod left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hais 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.
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Klemen Mihelak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Richard Sedláček’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jablonec needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Daniel Hais 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. 10 actions, 6.98, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Bohemians 1905 go through and Jablonec go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jablonec can tell you which week it ends in.
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. 11 actions, 7.12, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Sigma Olomouc; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“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.
Eduard Sobol was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Sigma Olomouc left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Daniel Hais falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jablonec, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stanislav Provod after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Souček dropped after a run of poor form
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Jan Hanuš
The dugoutDušan Pavlović has become a man the manager trusts
Lamin Jawo had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Slovan Liberec were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jablonec can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Jablonec.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Filip Zorvan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
Sebastian Nebyla and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It 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.
4 goals in 6 games at FC Košice — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Jablonec updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Jablonec and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Sebastian Nebyla 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 Daniel Hais was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jan Chramosta. 2‑0 against Mlada Boleslav, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hais 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 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Stanislav Provod, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Souček dropped after a run of poor form
“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.
Nemanja Tekijaški 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Saidou Alioum 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lamin Jawo. 1‑0 against Karviná, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Stanislav Provod on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hais was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Success Makanjuola 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 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Jablonec 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.
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. Enyimba have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: České Budějovice have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hugo Ahl. The answer from Jablonec has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Hais was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jiří Sláma has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jablonec, another week without a signature from Daniel Hais.
$7.4M was the most the club would pay and CSKA Sofia 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.
Jablonec asked and CSKA Sofia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lukáš Němec is living that version at Jablonec, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Beni Makouana obliged against Táborsko. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Jablonec.
$7.4M on the table at CSKA Sofia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Dušan Pavlović scored, was marked 7.81, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jablonec have done the hard part with Pribram, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $290.0K — a club that wants Elias Cobbaut enough to be asked twice.
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Hais is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jablonec people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Jablonec have paid $410.0K for Patrick Kpozo, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $110.0K — a club that wants Divine Teah enough to be asked twice.
Sebastian Nebyla 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.
Jablonec offered $100.0K; Slavia Prague 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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Shakhtar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jablonec offered $840.0K; Teplice said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The offer went to Banik Ostrava 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 Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Ebrima Singhateh again, and this time the name on the line is Karvan. Jablonec are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from České Budějovice for Nemanja Tekijaški 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.
Jablonec have gone to Teplice with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bendel Insurance have kept their man, and Jablonec go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Matěj Polidar again, and this time the name on the line is Viktoria Žižkov. Jablonec are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matej Franko 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.