8 Dec 2030
Sunday
Process
227 Edition

The Trakai Courier

2 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jānis Grīnbergs

35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 50 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Sardorbek Salimov hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

In brief

Back issues
226 Edition

The Trakai Courier

25 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jānis Grīnbergs

42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 57 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Raivis Kamess 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

  • Squad Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
  • Boardroom Trakai keep producing them
225 Edition

The Trakai Courier

18 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs damages knee ligaments — 50 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 64 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A season's verdict on Hassan Al Hammadi: the best of his age

Trakai have a 21-year-old the division has just voted its finest young footballer. The club's next problem is that everybody else now knows it too.

In brief

224 Edition

The Trakai Courier

11 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs damages knee ligaments — 57 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 71 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

In brief

223 Edition

The Trakai Courier

4 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs damages knee ligaments — 64 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 78 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Sardorbek Salimov hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

In brief

222 Edition

The Trakai Courier

28 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs damages knee ligaments — 71 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Raivis Kamess out for 86 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Satkus 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

221 Edition

The Trakai Courier

21 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jānis Grīnbergs

78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 93 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Trakai

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

In brief

220 Edition

The Trakai Courier

14 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs damages knee ligaments — 86 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 100 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

In brief

219 Edition

The Trakai Courier

7 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jānis Grīnbergs

94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 107 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Sardorbek Salimov hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Arnas Dubickas signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arnas Dubickas and Trakai agree another 4 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Raivis Kamess 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.

Boardroom

Trakai pull $576.7K back off the table

The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.

In brief

218 Edition

The Trakai Courier

30 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jānis Grīnbergs

101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 114 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Fraser Heard 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

217 Edition

The Trakai Courier

23 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jānis Grīnbergs

108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 121 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

In brief

  • Boardroom The scrutiny sharpens at Trakai
  • Squad Tempers go at Trakai
  • Squad Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
216 Edition

The Trakai Courier

16 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 128 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Only the photograph left for Arvydas Barauskas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arvydas Barauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

215 Edition

The Trakai Courier

9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Raivis Kamess breaks a bone — 135 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Market

Sardorbek Salimov asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Edvinas Barauskas stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Edvinas Barauskas and Trakai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Hassan Al Hammadi 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.

Squad

Andrius Slavickas out for 26 days

The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Andrius Slavickas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

In brief

214 Edition

The Trakai Courier

2 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Hassan Al Hammadi says Trakai went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Edvinas Barauskas stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Edvinas Barauskas and Trakai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Ignas Satkus 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.

In brief

213 Edition

The Trakai Courier

26 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Fraser Heard asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Trakai boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas attracts admirers

The name of Arvydas Barauskas has come up in conversations Trakai were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Hassan Al Hammadi 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.

Squad

Fraser Heard gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

212 Edition

The Trakai Courier

19 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Eyes on Hassan Al Hammadi again

The phone has started ringing about Hassan Al Hammadi again, and this time the name on the line is Atlantas. Trakai are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Raivis Kamess in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

No hiding place for Modestas Sernas

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Modestas Sernas, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Squad Ignas Satkus has become a man the manager trusts
  • Squad Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
211 Edition

The Trakai Courier

12 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

Edvinas Barauskas says Trakai went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Fraser Heard in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Home is on Cristian Mendoza's mind

“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; Trakai are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Market

Trakai sign Alexander Evans, one for the future

Alexander Evans is 20, and Trakai 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.

In brief

210 Edition

The Trakai Courier

5 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Trakai say no — this time

The offer from Atlantas for Hassan Al Hammadi 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.

Squad

Irakli Rukhadze signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Irakli Rukhadze and Trakai agree another 2 years.

Squad

Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Fraser Heard 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Vincentas Šarkauskas

“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.

Market

Siauliai are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Trakai will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

In brief

  • Market The shop window has Fraser Heard in it
  • Boardroom The Trakai production line keeps running
209 Edition

The Trakai Courier

29 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The small margins put Trakai out

Out, 1‑2 to Atlantas, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Market

Sardorbek Salimov asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Trakai

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Ignas Satkus

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ignas Satkus, and the manager let it.

Squad

This league is too small for Vincentas Šarkauskas

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. Trakai will not keep him by pretending otherwise.

Player ratings

Raivis Kamess never got going

5.23 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.

Player ratings

A day to forget for Jānis Grīnbergs

Marked 5.30, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.

In brief

208 Edition

The Trakai Courier

22 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Deividas Paulauskas says Trakai went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Only the photograph left for Arvydas Barauskas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arvydas Barauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas comes home

The shirt still fits. Vincentas Šarkauskas is back at Trakai, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

In brief

207 Edition

The Trakai Courier

15 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Hassan Al Hammadi 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.

Squad

Trakai count the cost of losing Marius Satkus

17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Market

The clock does Vincentas Šarkauskas’s negotiating for him

1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Trakai could ask drops and the wages Vincentas Šarkauskas can ask rise.

In brief

206 Edition

The Trakai Courier

8 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Trakai say no — this time

The offer from Zalgiris for Hassan Al Hammadi 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.

Squad

Arvydas Barauskas: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Saulius Lasickas stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Saulius Lasickas and Trakai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Fraser Heard 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.

Market

Siauliai expected to open talks for Arvydas Barauskas

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Trakai will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

In brief

  • Boardroom Intake day at the Trakai academy
  • Market The clock does Yevhen Morozko’s negotiating for him
  • Boardroom The Trakai production line keeps running
205 Edition

The Trakai Courier

1 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Sardorbek Salimov asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Trakai

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Trakai is running low.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi attracts admirers

The name of Hassan Al Hammadi has come up in conversations Trakai were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Raivis Kamess 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.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Satkus 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

204 Edition

The Trakai Courier

24 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Hamzat Balogun says Trakai went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Kauno Zalgiris expected to open talks for Vincentas Šarkauskas

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Trakai will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

Ignas Satkus 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.

In brief

203 Edition

The Trakai Courier

17 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Market

Atlantas come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Trakai did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Fraser Heard in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Fraser Heard gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

202 Edition

The Trakai Courier

10 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Trakai say no — this time

The offer from Kauno Zalgiris for Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Trakai count the cost of losing Arvydas Barauskas

16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Home is on Cristian Mendoza's mind

“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; Trakai are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Market

Siauliai are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Trakai will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

In brief

201 Edition

The Trakai Courier

3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Sardorbek Salimov puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Sardorbek Salimov keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Trakai may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi attracts admirers

The name of Hassan Al Hammadi has come up in conversations Trakai were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Hassan Al Hammadi 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.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko gets it from the manager

“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 ratings

Ninety minutes of Ignas Satkus at his very best

Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Trakai.

Match

Trakai share the spoils with Siauliai

A 1‑1 draw with Siauliai leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

200 Edition

The Trakai Courier

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Vincentas Šarkauskas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vincentas Šarkauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Player ratings

Erik Marin scores twice — 8.20

Two goals and a mark of 8.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Erik Marin the difference as Trakai beat Kauno Zalgiris

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Erik Marin. 3‑1 against Kauno Zalgiris, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Arnas Dubickas

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arnas Dubickas, and the manager let it.

In brief

199 Edition

The Trakai Courier

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Trakai

Position 6 and 13 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.

Market

Erik Marin hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Both of them Arnas Dubickas's — 8.49

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.49, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

The wait goes on for Trakai

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.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Ignas Satkus

“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.

Squad

Cristian Mendoza signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Cristian Mendoza commits to Trakai for another 3 years.

In brief

198 Edition

The Trakai Courier

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Trakai's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trakai has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Erik Marin 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.

Squad

Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Trakai lose Arvydas Barauskas

45 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Jānis Grīnbergs

“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.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Ignas Satkus

A mark of 7.60, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Match

Trakai and Atlantas take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Market

Yevhen Morozko runs his contract down

3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Trakai money.

Player ratings

Saulius Lasickas never got going

5.63 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.

In brief

197 Edition

The Trakai Courier

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Arvydas Barauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

Trakai come up short against Zalgiris

Zalgiris left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Edvinas Dapkus signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Edvinas Dapkus and Trakai agree another 2 years.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Fraser Heard in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Yevhen Morozko

“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.

In brief

196 Edition

The Trakai Courier

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Marius Vaitkunas out for 18 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Fraser Heard 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Edvinas Dapkus

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edvinas Dapkus, and the manager let it.

Match

Trakai share the spoils with Stumbras

A 1‑1 draw with Stumbras leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

195 Edition

The Trakai Courier

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Marius Vaitkunas out for 25 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas keeps Trakai in it on his own

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Trakai

4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Match

A bad afternoon for Trakai against Suduva

0‑2 to Suduva, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Erik Marin keeps on missing

Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas runs his contract down

3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Trakai money.

In brief

194 Edition

The Trakai Courier

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas keeps Trakai in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

A fracture rules Marius Vaitkunas out for 32 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Erik Marin scores twice — 8.31

Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Trakai see off Siauliai

Three points for Trakai, 3‑2 the final word against Siauliai in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Match

Erik Marin answers Siauliai immediately

Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Erik Marin had Trakai level again within 2 minutes, and Siauliai never got to play with a lead at all.

Market

Still no signature from Yevhen Morozko

4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Trakai could get for him.

In brief

193 Edition

The Trakai Courier

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Cup progress for Trakai

A 0‑3 win over Kauno Zalgiris, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

Trakai march on in the cup

Kauno Zalgiris are out and Trakai go through, 4‑3 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Trakai refuse to lose, and Ignas Satkus leads them

The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Ignas Satkus was at the centre of it, Kauno Zalgiris were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.

Squad

Marius Vaitkunas breaks a bone — 40 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Trakai sink to position 6

7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Player ratings

Ignas Satkus scores twice — 8.64

Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Both of them Patrick Nguyen's — 8.40

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.40, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Bachana Kiteishvili could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.67

Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.67, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.

In brief

192 Edition

The Trakai Courier

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Marius Vaitkunas breaks a bone — 47 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A day Erik Marin will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Trakai find a way past Utenis

Utenis made Trakai work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief

191 Edition

The Trakai Courier

25 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Patrick Nguyen could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.34

Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.34, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.

Squad

Karolis Dubickas breaks a bone — 25 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Match

No time for Atlantas to settle

The goal that put Atlantas ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Trakai equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.

Match

Honours even between Trakai and Atlantas

2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Hassan Al Hammadi

A mark of 7.36, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

In brief

190 Edition

The Trakai Courier

18 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Karolis Dubickas breaks a bone — 32 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Trakai against Zalgiris

1‑2 to Zalgiris, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Fraser Heard 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.

Player ratings

Erik Marin never got going

5.35 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.

In brief

189 Edition

The Trakai Courier

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Karolis Dubickas breaks a bone — 39 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Both of them Hassan Al Hammadi's — 8.38

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Match

Trakai find a way past Stumbras

Stumbras made Trakai work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Fraser Heard in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The terraces

Trakai supporters have found a favourite in Hassan Al Hammadi

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Hassan Al Hammadi 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.

In brief

188 Edition

The Trakai Courier

4 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Dubickas out for 47 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Only the photograph left for Vincentas Šarkauskas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vincentas Šarkauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

4 matches without a win for Trakai

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Trakai are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Trakai

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.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Match

Trakai come up short against Suduva

Suduva left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

187 Edition

The Trakai Courier

25 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Dubickas out for 54 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Paulius Lasickas out for 37 days

The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Paulius Lasickas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

In brief

186 Edition

The Trakai Courier

18 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kessel Willy Monkam

80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Karolis Dubickas breaks a bone — 62 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Fraser Heard hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

In brief

185 Edition

The Trakai Courier

11 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Trakai

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

Kessel Willy Monkam damages knee ligaments — 87 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Dubickas out for 69 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Modestas Sernas puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Erik Marin 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

184 Edition

The Trakai Courier

4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Trakai sink to position 8

10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

Kessel Willy Monkam damages knee ligaments — 94 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Dubickas out for 76 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Erik Marin asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

183 Edition

The Trakai Courier

28 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Trakai has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Dubickas out for 83 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Stumbras expected to open talks for Vincentas Šarkauskas

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Trakai will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

Ignas Satkus 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Fraser Heard 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

182 Edition

The Trakai Courier

21 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Dubickas out for 90 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Trakai to lose Ayuub Abdulle for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ayuub Abdulle 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.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Home is on Hassan Al Hammadi's mind

“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; Trakai are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

In brief

181 Edition

The Trakai Courier

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Trakai boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

A fracture rules Karolis Dubickas out for 97 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Utenis come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Trakai did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Modestas Sernas asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Ayuub Abdulle is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Erik Marin 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

180 Edition

The Trakai Courier

7 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Trakai sink to position 8

10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

Karolis Dubickas breaks a bone — 105 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

Trakai spell it out for Vikintas Barauskas

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vikintas Barauskas has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Market

Erik Marin asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

The season belongs to Arnas Dubickas

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 Trakai have had the benefit of it.

Squad

Ignas Satkus signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ignas Satkus commits to Trakai for another 4 years.

Boardroom

Trakai beat the market to Fraser Heard from Utenis

Utenis will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Fraser Heard has pre-agreed a move to Trakai, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edvinas Dapkus 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

179 Edition

The Trakai Courier

31 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Trakai has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Hassan Al Hammadi in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

When it matters, Arvydas Barauskas plays

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.

Market

The Ignas Satkus question follows Trakai around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ignas Satkus’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Somebody is after Yevhen Morozko’s shirt

A new face in his position, and Yevhen Morozko suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Trakai have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.

In brief

178 Edition

The Trakai Courier

24 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Marius Satkus is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Trakai 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.

Market

Still no signature from Vincentas Šarkauskas

7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Trakai could get for him.

In brief

177 Edition

The Trakai Courier

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ignas Satkus

19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Trakai boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tautvydas Burdzilauskas 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

176 Edition

The Trakai Courier

10 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ignas Satkus

26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Trakai

Position 8 and 10 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.

Market

Erik Marin asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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

175 Edition

The Trakai Courier

3 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Trakai has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Market

Modestas Sernas asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Saulius Lasickas stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Saulius Lasickas and Trakai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Erik Marin 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.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

When it matters, Arvydas Barauskas plays

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.

In brief

174 Edition

The Trakai Courier

26 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Ayuub Abdulle puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Marius Satkus has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Arvydas Paulauskas is a Trakai player again

He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Tautvydas Burdzilauskas 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.

Squad

Cristian Mendoza wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Trakai know it.

In brief

173 Edition

The Trakai Courier

19 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Trakai

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Trakai is running low.

Market

Only the photograph left for Tadas Kazlauskas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tadas Kazlauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Arnas Dubickas is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Trakai will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

In brief

172 Edition

The Trakai Courier

12 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Trakai are in real trouble now

Position 8, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Squad

When it matters, Ignas Satkus plays

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.

In brief

171 Edition

The Trakai Courier

5 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Trakai has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Market

Erik Marin hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Donatas Dubickas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Erik Marin 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.

Squad

Edvinas Dapkus 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.

Squad

When it matters, Cristian Mendoza plays

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.

In brief

170 Edition

The Trakai Courier

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Ayuub Abdulle asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Marius Satkus has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Trakai 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.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas placed on the list

Trakai have made Arvydas Barauskas available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

In brief

169 Edition

The Trakai Courier

22 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Trakai

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Trakai is running low.

Market

Only the photograph left for Tadas Kazlauskas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tadas Kazlauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Əli Səmədov puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Erik Marin 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.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

When it matters, Arvydas Barauskas plays

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.

In brief

168 Edition

The Trakai Courier

15 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Every point is an argument now for Trakai

Position 8 and 10 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.

Market

Tautvydas Burdzilauskas hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

When it matters, Ignas Satkus plays

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.

In brief

167 Edition

The Trakai Courier

8 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Trakai has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

Modestas Sernas damages knee ligaments — 14 days out

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.

Boardroom

Trakai put Vikintas Barauskas on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Market

Erik Marin asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Only the photograph left for Donatas Dubickas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Donatas Dubickas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Edvinas Dapkus signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edvinas Dapkus commits to Trakai for another 2 years.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Edvinas Barauskas in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

$543.1K taken back off the Trakai table

What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.

In brief

166 Edition

The Trakai Courier

1 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Modestas Sernas damages knee ligaments — 21 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Marius Satkus has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Trakai 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

165 Edition

The Trakai Courier

24 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Modestas Sernas damages knee ligaments — 28 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Trakai

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Ayuub Abdulle puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Tautvydas Burdzilauskas 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

164 Edition

The Trakai Courier

17 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Modestas Sernas damages knee ligaments — 35 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.

Match

Trakai are in real trouble now

Position 8, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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

163 Edition

The Trakai Courier

10 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Trakai has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

Modestas Sernas damages knee ligaments — 42 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Donatas Dubickas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincentas Šarkauskas 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

162 Edition

The Trakai Courier

3 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Erik Marin puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Ignas Satkus pulls a muscle — 15 days out

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.

Market

Marius Satkus has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Market

Eyes on Donatas Dubickas again

The phone has started ringing about Donatas Dubickas again, and this time the name on the line is Siauliai. Trakai are listening politely and promising nothing.

In brief

161 Edition

The Trakai Courier

27 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Trakai

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Basel Al-Bediwi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Eyes on Arvydas Barauskas again

The phone has started ringing about Arvydas Barauskas again, and this time the name on the line is Siauliai. Trakai are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

In brief

160 Edition

The Trakai Courier

20 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Trakai are in real trouble now

Position 8, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Sardorbek Salimov asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Market

Utenis expected to open talks for Marius Satkus

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Trakai will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

In brief

159 Edition

The Trakai Courier

13 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Trakai has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Market

Ayuub Abdulle puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Tautvydas Burdzilauskas 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.

Market

Eyes on Marius Satkus again

The phone has started ringing about Marius Satkus again, and this time the name on the line is Utenis. Trakai are listening politely and promising nothing.

Market

The Donatas Dubickas conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Siauliai will make the call about Donatas Dubickas this week. Trakai have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

In brief

158 Edition

The Trakai Courier

6 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 17 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Erik Marin hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Market

Eyes on Donatas Dubickas again

The phone has started ringing about Donatas Dubickas again, and this time the name on the line is Siauliai. Trakai are listening politely and promising nothing.

Market

Siauliai expected to open talks for Arvydas Barauskas

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Trakai will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

Tautvydas Burdzilauskas 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.

In brief

157 Edition

The Trakai Courier

30 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 24 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Trakai boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Eyes on Arvydas Barauskas again

The phone has started ringing about Arvydas Barauskas again, and this time the name on the line is Siauliai. Trakai are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Erik Marin 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

156 Edition

The Trakai Courier

23 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 31 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Trakai sink to position 8

10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Sardorbek Salimov puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jānis Grīnbergs 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

155 Edition

The Trakai Courier

16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Trakai has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 38 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Erik Marin 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.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Hassan Al Hammadi wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Trakai know it.

In brief

154 Edition

The Trakai Courier

9 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 45 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Erik Marin puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Edvinas Barauskas signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edvinas Barauskas commits to Trakai for another 2 years.

Market

Siauliai are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Trakai will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

Squad

Tautvydas Burdzilauskas 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.

In brief

153 Edition

The Trakai Courier

2 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 52 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

Vikintas Barauskas has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Trakai can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Trakai

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Ayuub Abdulle asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Eyes on Arvydas Barauskas again

The phone has started ringing about Arvydas Barauskas again, and this time the name on the line is Siauliai. Trakai are listening politely and promising nothing.

Market

Tadas Dubickas comes home

The shirt still fits. Tadas Dubickas is back at Trakai, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Squad

Edvinas Barauskas stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Edvinas Barauskas and Trakai agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Tautvydas Burdzilauskas 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

152 Edition

The Trakai Courier

25 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 59 days out

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.

Match

Trakai are in real trouble now

Position 8, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Yevhen Morozko asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

In brief

151 Edition

The Trakai Courier

18 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

The mood at Trakai has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 66 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Squad

Mantas Barauskas out for 51 days

The medical room confirms 51 days on the sidelines for Mantas Barauskas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

In brief

150 Edition

The Trakai Courier

11 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 73 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Erik Marin hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Deividas Paulauskas

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Deividas Paulauskas, and the manager let it.

In brief

149 Edition

The Trakai Courier

4 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 80 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Erik Marin ran the middle of the pitch — 6.55

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 28 combined actions and a mark of 6.55, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Vincentas Šarkauskas

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Arnas Dubickas delivers — 7.45

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Arnas Dubickas scored, was marked 7.45, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Jānis Grīnbergs and Trakai agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Match

Trakai come up short against Siauliai

Siauliai left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Ignas Satkus among the goals in a wild afternoon

7 goals in one match, Ignas Satkus on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Trakai and Siauliai.

In brief

148 Edition

The Trakai Courier

28 May 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 88 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Trakai sink to position 8

10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Attila Szalai asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas keeps Trakai in it on his own

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Erik Marin 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.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Player ratings

Əli Səmədov will replay that one

1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.

Match

Honours even between Trakai and Kauno Zalgiris

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

147 Edition

The Trakai Courier

21 May 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 95 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Jānis Grīnbergs

“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.

Match

Trakai share the spoils with Utenis

A 2‑2 draw with Utenis leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Player ratings

Tadas Dubickas never got going

5.74 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.

Market

Attila Szalai runs his contract down

6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Trakai money.

In brief

146 Edition

The Trakai Courier

14 May 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Yevhen Morozko out for 103 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Yevhen Morozko asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Only the photograph left for Arvydas Barauskas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arvydas Barauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Player ratings

Tadas Kazlauskas, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80

A mark of 7.80 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.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Player ratings

Arnas Dubickas in the eights

A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The terraces

Trakai supporters have found a favourite in Tadas Kazlauskas

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Tadas Kazlauskas 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.

Match

Trakai see off Atlantas

Three points for Trakai, 2‑0 the final word against Atlantas in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

145 Edition

The Trakai Courier

7 May 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Trakai's wait for a win

12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trakai has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 111 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas keeps Trakai in it on his own

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.

Player ratings

Arnas Dubickas pops up at the right end — 7.89

7.89, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Squad

Saulius Lasickas signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saulius Lasickas and Trakai agree another 2 years.

Market

Still waiting for the real Jānis Grīnbergs

9 appearances, an average of 6.32, and the patience in the stands is now performative. Every big signing gets a grace period; his ran out two bad afternoons ago.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Match

Trakai and Zalgiris take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

In brief

144 Edition

The Trakai Courier

30 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 118 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

The wait goes on for Trakai

11 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.

Match

Trakai are in real trouble now

Position 8, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Erik Marin hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Erik Marin scores twice — 7.55

Two goals and a mark of 7.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Only the photograph left for Tadas Kazlauskas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tadas Kazlauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

Erik Marin’s goal not enough for Trakai

Erik Marin scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Stumbras, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Arvydas Barauskas 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

143 Edition

The Trakai Courier

23 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko breaks a bone — 125 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

10 matches without a win for Trakai

The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Trakai are no longer polite ones.

Market

Hassan Al Hammadi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Match

Trakai come up short against Suduva

Suduva left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Jānis Grīnbergs

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jānis Grīnbergs, and the manager let it.

The terraces

Everybody has an opinion about Ignas Satkus

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.

In brief

142 Edition

The Trakai Courier

16 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Yevhen Morozko out for 133 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

9 matches without a win for Trakai

The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Trakai are no longer polite ones.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Trakai against Siauliai

1‑2 to Siauliai, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Edvinas Barauskas

“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.

Player ratings

Edvinas Dapkus never got going

5.17 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.

In brief

141 Edition

The Trakai Courier

9 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The cup run ends for Trakai

1‑2 against Suduva, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Match

8 matches without a win for Trakai

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Trakai are no longer polite ones.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Erik Marin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Arnas Dubickas

“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.

Match

Kauno Zalgiris take the points off Trakai

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Hassan Al Hammadi signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hassan Al Hammadi and Trakai agree another 3 years.

Market

Eduardas Jurjonas is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Trakai has been clear about where Eduardas Jurjonas stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

140 Edition

The Trakai Courier

2 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Trakai are in real trouble now

Position 6, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Player ratings

Erik Marin ran the middle of the pitch — 5.89

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 24 combined actions and a mark of 5.89, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

Market

Only the photograph left for Tadas Kazlauskas

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tadas Kazlauskas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trakai the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

The wait goes on for Trakai

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.

Match

The goals have deserted Trakai

6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Trakai can tell you which week it ends in.

Market

Basel Al-Bediwi puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Squad

Ignas Satkus gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

139 Edition

The Trakai Courier

26 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Market

Maksymilian Dołowy puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

5 matches without a win for Trakai

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Trakai are no longer polite ones.

Match

5 matches without a goal for Trakai

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Attila Szalai in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Erik Marin gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Home is on Cristian Mendoza's mind

“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; Trakai are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Player ratings

Modestas Sernas was immovable

16 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.

In brief

138 Edition

The Trakai Courier

19 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 20 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Yevhen Morozko puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

The wait goes on for Trakai

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.

Match

The goals have deserted Trakai

4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Trakai can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Attila Szalai 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.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Hassan Al Hammadi wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Trakai know it.

Match

Point won or two lost for Trakai?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zalgiris? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

In brief

137 Edition

The Trakai Courier

12 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 27 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Attila Szalai hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Match

The goals have deserted Trakai

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Trakai can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Yevhen Morozko

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yevhen Morozko, and the manager let it.

Match

Trakai come up short against Stumbras

Stumbras left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

An afternoon Erik Marin will want back

Marked 5.36. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.

Player ratings

Off the pace: Tadas Kazlauskas

A mark of 5.55 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.

In brief

136 Edition

The Trakai Courier

5 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 34 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Arvydas Barauskas: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trakai have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Vincentas Šarkauskas keeps Trakai in it on his own

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.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Basel Al-Bediwi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

A chastening introduction for Hassan Al Hammadi — 5.59

It is a hard way to meet a crowd. Marked 5.59 on the day he was handed the shirt, and the important thing now is what the next one looks like.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Both jobs done by Ignas Satkus — 5.99

A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 5.99, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Trakai

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.

In brief

135 Edition

The Trakai Courier

26 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 41 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.

In brief

134 Edition

The Trakai Courier

19 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 48 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Maksymilian Dołowy puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Arvydas Barauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Attila Szalai 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.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Trakai count the cost of losing Marius Satkus

18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

In brief

133 Edition

The Trakai Courier

12 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 55 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Trakai boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Erik Marin puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Trakai turn down Atlantas for Marius Satkus

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Morozko 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

132 Edition

The Trakai Courier

5 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 62 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Trakai

Position 7 and 12 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.

Market

Yevhen Morozko asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Trakai turn down Siauliai for Arvydas Barauskas

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Attila Szalai 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

131 Edition

The Trakai Courier

29 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Trakai spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 69 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Vincentas Šarkauskas puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

In brief

130 Edition

The Trakai Courier

22 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 76 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Əli Səmədov asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Yevhen Morozko 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.

Squad

Marius Satkus out for 47 days

The medical room confirms 47 days on the sidelines for Marius Satkus, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Market

A long bet from Trakai on Dennis Monsvik

He is 20, and nobody at Trakai signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

In brief

129 Edition

The Trakai Courier

15 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 83 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Trakai boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Attila Szalai asks to leave Trakai

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Tempers go at Trakai

Jānis Grīnbergs 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.

Squad

Home is on Cristian Mendoza's mind

“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; Trakai are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Market

The Arvydas Barauskas conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Siauliai will make the call about Arvydas Barauskas this week. Trakai have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

In brief

128 Edition

The Trakai Courier

8 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Attila Szalai out for 90 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Trakai

Position 7 and 12 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.

Boardroom

Trakai put Vikintas Barauskas on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Market

Yevhen Morozko puts it in writing

“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 Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Tadas Kazlauskas is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Trakai is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Jānis Grīnbergs in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Trakai training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincentas Šarkauskas 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.

Market

Trakai sign Eddy Ramazanov, one for the future

Eddy Ramazanov is 19, and Trakai 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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Trakai

6 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

  • Market Marius Satkus is free to find somewhere else
  • Boardroom $700.5K taken back off the Trakai table
  • Boardroom Trakai were not finished after all