Amadou Sabo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Suduva will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutSidy Sanokho knocks on the manager’s door
Petar Bosančić 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 Luka Svetličić is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Suduva will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Steve Lawson a promise
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lohan Tallis is living that version at Suduva, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Domantas Antanavičius and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Amadou Sabo 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 Nov 2026
Markas Beneta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Suduva 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 face in his position, and Faustas Steponavičius suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Suduva have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days 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 Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Henry Uzochukwu, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 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.” Edgaras Dubickas kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Lucky Tom.
In brief
The dugoutAmadou Sabo has become a man the manager trusts
Amadou Sabo 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 Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Moutir Chajia 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Amadou Sabo 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 Suduva, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Suduva 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Petar Bosančić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Amadou Sabo is on it.
In brief
The dugoutSidy Sanokho asks for a word with the manager
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Suduva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Sabo 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.
13 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.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Pavlovski has become a man the manager trusts
Amadou Sabo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Suduva, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Suduva 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rati Grigalava is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Amadou Sabo 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 Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Suduva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Markas Beneta 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.
13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Ibrahima Seck
7Edition
The Suduva Courier
14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Amadou Sabo 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.
Suduva asked and NK Maribor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sidy Sanokho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
In brief
SquadMarkas Beneta looks at the other side of the line
The offer from Minyor Pernik for Mirko Andrić 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.
“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 Suduva, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atlantas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo 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. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The offer from Zalgiris for Amadou Sabo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Suduva can pretend not to have heard.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Oyinlola Kayode is a Suduva player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Suduva asked and Miedź Legnica 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 Suduva 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 window away with the national side, and a shirt at Suduva that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Suduva would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Kauno Zalgiris have accepted the money. What Suduva do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $35.6K — a club that wants Oyinlola Kayode enough to be asked twice.
Everything agreed with CSKA Sofia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Amadou Sabo 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 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luka Svetličić provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Stumbras had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Suduva did not stop to explain themselves.
Zalgiris did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $74.0K for Petar Bosančić, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.93 beside his name.
Amadou Sabo 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.
Suduva have gone to Kauno Zalgiris with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Đorđije Pavličić is living that version at Suduva, and it tends to show in the first month.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Titas Milašius has agreed terms with Atlantas for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Suduva have gone to Zalgiris with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Stumbras have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Titas Milašius. The answer from Suduva has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saulius Novikovas 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 Eliosius 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.
Moutir Chajia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Suduva can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Rokas Pačėsa has come up in conversations Suduva were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.