Marked for Jack Perkins
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Nov 2030
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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huesca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces25 Nov 2030
The crowd has taken to Axel Borja
At 22 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.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Match23 Nov 2030
Huesca rescue it on 87 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Atlético Madrileño had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Match23 Nov 2030
It needed Axel Borja to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Atlético Madrileño, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad25 Nov 2030
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Apr 2029
Elias Toft Nordrum damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Vilim Krušlin for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Sesvete will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Ilan Pejić 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.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
The borrowing at Sesvete reaches $22.3M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $22.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
114% of the income goes out in wages at Sesvete
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Viktor Kanižaj 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.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Jack Perkins
“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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Julian Bytyci 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Apr 2029
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sesvete lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Sesvete
Ilan Pejić 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Sesvete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksa Raca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Borna Cik 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.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
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.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
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.
Market16 Apr 2029
Sesvete have let the market know Vilim Krušlin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market16 Apr 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 2029
“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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Ilan Pejić 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.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
The borrowing at Sesvete reaches $19.0M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $19.0M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Wages swallow 112% of the Sesvete income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Borna Cik
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Viktor Kanižaj 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Sesvete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksa Raca 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.
Market26 Feb 2029
The Franco Beljo story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Franco Beljo signs something — a contract at Sesvete or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.