Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miroljub Kostić 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. Volgar have kept their man, and Siauliai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Miroljub Kostić is on it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Siauliai asked and Neftekhimik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Siauliai 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.
Kévin Simon 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.
Siauliai asked and KAMAZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mantas Kuklys is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dāvis Ikaunieks is on it.
Vladimir Tufegdžić 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.
Rory Leech is 19, and Siauliai 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.
He is 20, and nobody at Siauliai signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad4 Jan 2027
5 new faces, and Siauliai 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.
Nobody at Siauliai will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Siauliai enter the window
Nobody at Siauliai will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alexandr Tenyaev has written the date down.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Regnar Krot on the training pitch
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Brendi Malaj
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Siauliai will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dāvis Ikaunieks is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Siauliai, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Jeremiah Julius is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vladimir Tufegdžić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Miroljub Kostić is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Siauliai are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Kévin Simon 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor 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.
Kévin Simon was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dāvis Ikaunieks is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMantas Sernas knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Nemanja Milić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mantas Sernas has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arvydas Vaitkunas and Siauliai agree another 3 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Nemanja Milić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Siauliai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Milić 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siauliai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Miloš Gordić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Vladimir Tufegdžić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Milić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Paulius Kuklys 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.
23 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
The dugoutSiniša Babić has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Siauliai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Siauliai can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Siauliai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Kévin Simon 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siauliai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kévin Simon was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Milić 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
The dugoutDāvis Ikaunieks has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Milić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siauliai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Siauliai close the window on a squad of their own making
31 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Milić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Siauliai 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Siauliai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Nemanja Milić 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.
23 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Miloš Gordić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Fiodor Barauskas left the room before anybody could ask which.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Miroljub Kostić scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Siauliai and Trakai in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Siauliai asked and Slavia Mozyr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Milić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A muscle injury sidelines Jovan Krneta for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Siauliai will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Kévin Simon and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Milić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arvydas Vaitkunas has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edgaras Satkus is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Linas Mikoliunas 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Siauliai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Milić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Siauliai will not keep him by pretending otherwise.