105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Subotica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Spartak Subotica have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The phone has started ringing about Luka Subotić again, and this time the name on the line is Kabel. Spartak Subotica are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Subotica can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Novi Pazar is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Demeaco Duhaney and Spartak Subotica agree another 3 years.
Luka Subotić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romarinho 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.
Spartak Subotica asked and Vojvodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Kosta Rakonić is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Spartak Subotica, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Vojvodina is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Spartak Subotica is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vojvodina have kept their man, and Spartak Subotica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
127 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Subotica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Subotica they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 May 2028
Romarinho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Subotica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bruno Tiago is on it.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Holender asks for a word with the manager
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Subotica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 May 2028
Romarinho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Subotica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartak Subotica can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Spartak Subotica know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
16 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
The words a physio says slowly. 141 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Subotica they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ahmad Al-Blooshi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Spartak Subotica will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Spartak Subotica has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Đurović knocks on the manager's door
148 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Subotica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romarinho 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.
“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; Spartak Subotica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
John Mary and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Stefan Tomović is on it.
155 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Subotica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Subotica is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romarinho is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spartak Subotica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Đorđije Pavličić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spartak Subotica the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Romarinho 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Filip Holender is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartak Subotica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Spartak Subotica could ask drops and the wages Nemanja Krsmanović can ask rise.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Spartak Subotica will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“The easiest signature of my career.” John Mary and Spartak Subotica agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Romarinho 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.
Miroslav Jovanovic was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Spartak Subotica, another week without a signature from Nikola Ralić.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Subotica is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
John Mary and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Romarinho 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.
“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; Spartak Subotica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Romarinho 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.
Nikola Ralić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Marked 7.90. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Luka Milenkovic kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
That is the business done at Spartak Subotica until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
John Mary and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Grafičar were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Romarinho 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.
Spartak Subotica asked and Dynamo Kyiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spartak Subotica is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Spartak Subotica has to find a result from somewhere.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Subotica can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Hannover 96, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Spartak Subotica had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zenit, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Spartak Subotica can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Romarinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nyíregyháza have kept their man, and Spartak Subotica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Spartak Subotica people have started saying his name in the past tense.
John Mary was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romarinho 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.
Spartak Subotica asked and Sparta Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Spartak Subotica, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sparta Prague keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
John Mary and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Romarinho 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Spartak Subotica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikola Puškar and Spartak Subotica agree another 4 years.
“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 Spartak Subotica know it.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Spartak Subotica dressing room in a hurry
17 combined actions and 6.71. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Subotica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Luka Subotić has come up in conversations Spartak Subotica were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartak Subotica can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
SquadNikola Puškar falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Romarinho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartak Subotica can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Luka Milenkovic to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spartak Subotica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Subotica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Romarinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Luka Milenkovic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Filip Đurović has his answer from Spartak Subotica; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nemanja Krsmanović is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Puškar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Jedinstvo Ub in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Romarinho was at the centre of it, Novi Pazar were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.56 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Filip Holender commits to Spartak Subotica for another 2 years.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Romarinho 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
7 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.
“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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Romarinho 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.
John Mary 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.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Stefan Stojanović has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Spartak Subotica.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luka Milenkovic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Spartak Subotica dressing room was either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladimir Vitorović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Spartak Subotica has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Subotica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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 Spartak Subotica know it.
Nobody at Spartak Subotica 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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Luka Milenkovic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Crvena Zvezda defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Subotica can pretend not to have heard.
“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; Spartak Subotica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Nikola Ralić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Spartak Subotica told Filip Holender something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francis Ebuka Nwokeabia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“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 Spartak Subotica, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sparta Prague is saying, and nobody at Spartak Subotica is enjoying the guessing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” John Mary and Spartak Subotica agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Romarinho 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.
“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; Spartak Subotica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and John Mary has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Subotica can pretend not to have heard.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romarinho 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.
“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; Spartak Subotica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Spartak Subotica asked and Metaloglobus Bucharest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Subotica they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at CSKA Moscow is saying, and nobody at Spartak Subotica is enjoying the guessing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Spartak Subotica have done the hard part with CFR Cluj, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Léo Antônio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Spartak Subotica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ezequiel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilija Babić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ilija Babić is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ezequiel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Spartak Subotica. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Romarinho’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
SquadRomarinho is training like a man with a point to make
“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 Spartak Subotica, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Spartak Subotica can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Đorđije Pavličić has written the date down.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Spartak Subotica will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartak Subotica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Subotica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Spartak Subotica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Spartak Subotica is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
In brief
The dugoutStefan Tomović has become a man the manager trusts
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Lincoln will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Spartak Subotica escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
John Mary and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Luka Milenkovic to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Spartak Subotica are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Spartak Subotica have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Everything agreed with Novi Pazar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Benjamin Göschl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Paulo Balbúrdia is living that version at Spartak Subotica, and it tends to show in the first month.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kwaku Osei Bonsu and Spartak Subotica agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Spartak Subotica asked and Radnicki Nis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Spartak Subotica people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He is going to Partizan, the club has $670.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympiacos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Romarinho 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.
0‑3 against Crvena Zvezda, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Spartak Subotica have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Everybody at Spartak Subotica saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefan Tomović and Spartak Subotica agree another 4 years.
OFK Beograd paid $100.0K and Spartak Subotica took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Spartak Subotica can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Radnik Surdulica for Marin Dulić 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.
The name of Uroš Čejić has come up in conversations Spartak Subotica were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Göschl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑0 win over Radnicki 1923, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Subotica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1 for Bruno Tiago, marked 7.79, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The 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.
Position 13, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Subotica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Luka Milenkovic could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Nikola Ralić
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Subotica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ezequiel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uroš Čejić, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Marin Dulić is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at Spartak Subotica will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Đorđije Pavličić has written the date down.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
They sit in position 15 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spartak Subotica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Romarinho 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Stefan Tomović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luka Milenkovic after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Spartak Subotica is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Subotica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđije Pavličić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Romarinho in the middle of it, and Zeleznicar Pancevo unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Léo Antônio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Luka Milenkovic kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
113 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Spartak Subotica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Subotica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđije Pavličić 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.
Spartak Subotica asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Spartak Subotica are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Romarinho is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Marin Dulić's mistake