Opava had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Slovan Liberec, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The clubs have shaken hands with Táborsko; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Everything agreed with Slovan Liberec, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Martinec is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Opava is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Opava have had the benefit of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Opava can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Havelka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Michal Cerny after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ladislav Mužík had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and České Budějovice were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Opava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Danijel Kolarić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Martinec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Muhammed Suso did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Martinec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opava 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 Filip Havelka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Marked 7.94. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Michal Cerny kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Viktor Hýsek had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Jihlava were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Martinec 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 8.17 — 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.
Half the programme played, position 5, 26 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Chrudim; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Opava and Chrudim, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Martinec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jiří Ciupa 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.
Danijel Kolarić 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 Matěj Helešic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Chrudim in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Opava. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
They sit in position 6 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Jason Noslin are not good
SquadBohdan Velička is training like a man with a point to make
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Opava did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Muhammed Suso, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 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.” Michal Cerny chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Martinec 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 9.06 — 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.
Papalélé 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Opava. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
In brief
The dugoutPapalélé back under a manager who knows him
1 for Felix Čejka, marked 7.55, 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.
Danijel Kolarić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Filip Havelka 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.
He is 21 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.
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.
Danijel Kolarić 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.
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Martinec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Papalélé 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.
Something was said to Jakub Martinec and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jiří Janoščin has his answer from Opava; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Matouš Nikl’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Opava needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Opava. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Filip Havelka 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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Helešic 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michal Cerny was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Opava dressing room was either.
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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.
Danijel Kolarić 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 had been thinking. Jakub Martinec 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.
18 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.
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michal Cerny was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Opava dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zbrojovka Brno? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ladislav Mužík provided it, and the 9.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 21 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Michal Cerny could afford to be generous.
A brace, and Filip Havelka takes the afternoon — 8.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Filip Havelka provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Opava offered $58.0K; Viktoria Žižkov said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filip Havelka. 3‑2 against Táborsko, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Havelka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jihlava have kept their man, and Opava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Papalélé 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.
“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 Opava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 26 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Opava until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $62.6K — a club that wants Erik Biegon enough to be asked twice.
$9.0K was the most the club would pay and Dukla Prague 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Opava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Opava can pretend not to have heard.
$49.0K on the table at Viktoria Žižkov. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$9.0K on the table at Dukla Prague. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Jablonec wanted more than $60.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Filip Havelka 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Opava and Slavia Prague have settled on $36.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Opava, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Jakub Martinec, marked 7.56, 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $62.6K — a club that wants David Nykrín enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Jablonec 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Václav Jindra is living that version at Opava, and it tends to show in the first month.
In brief
SquadFilip Havelka falls out with a teammate over standards
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Papalélé has, at Opava, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Banik Ostrava have kept their man, and Opava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The shirt still fits. Papalélé is back at Opava, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Filip Havelka 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 had been thinking. Filip Štěpánek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ladislav Mužík provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matouš Nikl is living that version at Opava, and it tends to show in the first month.
Zbrojovka Brno did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $290.0K for Danijel Kolarić, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dominik Holaň and Opava agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Filip Havelka 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ladislav Mužík. 2‑0 against Sparta Prague B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
$290.0K on the table at Zbrojovka Brno. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Filip Štěpánek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Velička 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.
Opava have made the call to Sparta Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.