The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kamil Jakóbczyk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lechia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksii Hutsuliak 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
SquadA muscle injury sidelines Tobías Berón for 15 days
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rifet Kapić signs something — a contract at Lechia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kamil Jakóbczyk reports back to Lechia with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.79 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 Lechia 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Egill Arnarsson is living that version at Lechia, and it tends to show in the first month.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Igor Brzyski 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Zaglebie spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The name of Kamil Jakóbczyk has come up in conversations Lechia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The deal that would have taken Igor Brzyski to Lech has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Lechia with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lechia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bohdan Viunnyk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksii Hutsuliak 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.
8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Rifet Kapić's mistake
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.60 — 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lechia can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Alvis Jaunzems, marked 7.87, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksii Hutsuliak 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 Rami Lougmani again, and this time the name on the line is Hapoel Tel Aviv. Lechia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Marked 8.67 — 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Lechia pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Jonathan Ávila 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 a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Wisla Krakow kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Lechia will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lechia can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vladislav Yampolskiy has agreed terms with Legia for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Lechia training over how hard people work
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Legia kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Lechia will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Yampolskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lechia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Fedele is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.25 — 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.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia 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. 8.16 at 34, 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 Lechia 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kacper Stanowski will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lechia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kacper Sezonienko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Gornik Zabrze kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Lechia will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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 Nov 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Fedele 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 Lechia 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Fedele 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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 Rifet Kapić, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kacper Sezonienko 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.
1 for Slobodan Rubežić, marked 7.97, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Lechia and Korona, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Bohdan Viunnyk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lechia told Maj Pirc something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lechia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lechia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Fedele 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.
Kacper Sezonienko 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lechia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
93 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Kurminowski 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kamil Jakóbczyk did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Sep 2029
5 new faces, and Lechia 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kamil Jakóbczyk did not need any: 8.32, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
64 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Fedele 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.
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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Korona go through and Lechia 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.
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Lechia are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Kamil Jakóbczyk, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 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.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Vladislav Yampolskiy again, and this time the name on the line is Cracovia. Lechia are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Lechia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lechia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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; Lechia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Kurminowski is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nothing 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kamil Jakóbczyk did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lechia has been clear about where Adam Ryczkowski stands, which is more than many ever get.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Kurminowski 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Kamil Jakóbczyk is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Lechia will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Gornik Leczna will make the call about Kacper Stanowski this week. Lechia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Kacper Stanowski is a Lechia player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces30 Jul 2029
Lechia spend $520.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $520.0K for Kacper Stanowski, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
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.
Wisla Krakow will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Peter Haring has pre-agreed a move to Lechia, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
The fee is $550.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Legia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Lechia
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Dawid Nos from Legia for $550.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Fedele 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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rami Lougmani is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Igor Brzyski is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Fedele 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.
At 24 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
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 Lechia 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 new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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. Lautaro Fedele has just signed for Lechia, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The fee is $140.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Legia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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.
Lech will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ismaël Sylla has pre-agreed a move to Lechia, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Nobody at Lechia 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 is going to Legia, the club has $1.2M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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 Lechia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bohdan Viunnyk 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Maj Pirc from Lucko for $1.8M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
“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 Lechia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Ivan Zhelizko again, and this time the name on the line is Legia. Lechia are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rami Lougmani is living that version at Lechia, 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Zhelizko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Ivan Zhelizko 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Ivan Zhelizko 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.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Zhelizko 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kacper Sezonienko 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.
Magnus Kofod Andersen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Zhelizko 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Ivan Zhelizko 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.
Ivan Zhelizko 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Landinho 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 Lechia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadBujar Pllana has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Landinho commits to Lechia for another 2 years.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Zhelizko 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 Lechia 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.
“I watch every Lechia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Orlando City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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 Mar 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Zhelizko 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Ivan Zhelizko 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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.
Jagiellonia go through and Lechia go home, 2‑2 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Ivan Zhelizko 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 goal that put Jagiellonia ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Lechia equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Lechia training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Lechia could ask drops and the wages Rafael Galhardo can ask rise.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Lechia did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Maxim Voronov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 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.
Magnus Kofod Andersen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matúš Vojtko and Lechia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Zhelizko 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 Lechia, and 12 appearances in 28 say he has earned the hearing.
11 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.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Maxim Voronov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 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.
“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 Lechia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sven van Doorm has just signed for Lechia, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Ivan Zhelizko 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 Lechia, and 4 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rafael Galhardo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lechia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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.
Piast made Lechia work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Landinho is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is going to Jagiellonia, the club has $1.5M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
In brief
SquadWords at Lechia training over how hard people work
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Legia for Tomasz Wójtowicz 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.
Add another name to the list: Gornik Zabrze have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dawid Kurminowski. The answer from Lechia has not changed — yet.
Ivan Zhelizko 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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Maxim Voronov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.10
A mark of 8.10 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.
“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 Lechia, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
54 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Voronov 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 words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
A brace, and Maxim Voronov takes the afternoon — 8.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maxim Voronov provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lechia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Lechia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Maxim Voronov in the middle of it, and Ruch unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
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. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Gornik Leczna defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maxim Voronov did not need any: 8.12, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Magnus Kofod Andersen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maxim Voronov. 1‑0 against Cracovia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
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.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“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 Lechia, and 9 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Maxim Voronov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Voronov 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.
“I watch every Lechia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Orlando City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Szymon Weirauch: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rafael Galhardo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lechia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Rafael Galhardo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Bujar Pllana will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Lechia escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lechia can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.91 for the rest of it.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Lechia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gornik Leczna runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Aaron Spetale will want back
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maxim Voronov did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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. Michał Głogowski 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.
8.62. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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 Lechia, and 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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 Benoît Costil, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Ivan Zhelizko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.60. 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Lechia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Landinho 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rifet Kapić signs something — a contract at Lechia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 121 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Maxim Voronov decided nobody was going anywhere. Piast had no time left to answer.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maxim Voronov did not need any: 8.20, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Benoît Costil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 20 he is 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 128 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lechia can pretend not to have heard.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadLandinho falls out with a teammate over standards
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lechia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Maxim Voronov, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rifet Kapić signs something — a contract at Lechia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A first appearance Uriel Monzón will want to forget — 5.77
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.77, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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. Michał Głogowski 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Maxim Voronov, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lechia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Ivan Zhelizko is still in the building
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Slask are out and Lechia go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A brace, and Maxim Voronov takes the afternoon — 7.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maxim Voronov provided it, and the 7.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kazbek Mukailov did not need any: 7.91, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kazbek Mukailov 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 words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Benoît Costil 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 28 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.
At 20 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.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1 for Bujar Pllana, marked 7.80, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Magnus Kofod Andersen 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 words a physio says slowly. 83 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maxim Voronov did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
34 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michał Głogowski is 23, 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 Lechia has been clear about where Rafael Galhardo stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giulio Scuderi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 33 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Lech? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Benoît Costil 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The phone has started ringing about Kamil Jakóbczyk again, and this time the name on the line is Banik Ostrava. Lechia are listening politely and promising nothing.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Karol Piatek 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. Michal Bednarek 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. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lechia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lechia can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Banik Ostrava for Kamil Jakóbczyk was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lechia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ruch will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Przemysław Szymiński has pre-agreed a move to Lechia, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
In brief
SquadWords at Lechia training over how hard people work
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lechia can pretend not to have heard.
Ivan Zhelizko 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; Lechia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lechia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
$2.7M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lechia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
He is going to Zaglebie, the club has $2.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lechia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Lechia, 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Camilo Mena 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.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Lechia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Camilo Mena 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.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Lechia, 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Camilo Mena was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
8 new faces, and Lechia 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.
“I watch every Lechia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nea Salamis runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lechia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lechia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lechia 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 Lechia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Lechia, and 5 appearances in 42 say he has earned the hearing.
Duje Pranić is 20, and Lechia have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lechia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 13 and 31 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.