Marked for Đorđe Jovanović
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Radnik Surdulica may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
7.92, 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Luka Zorić
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Trémoulet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.41 — 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Haris Hajdarević. 1‑0 against Radnicki 1923, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Uros Lazovic could afford to be generous.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Radnik Surdulica lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Martin Novaković’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Radnik Surdulica needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Vukašin Bogdanović takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vukašin Bogdanović provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Radnik Surdulica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Trémoulet 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Đorđe Jovanović at his very best
Marked 8.47. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Radnik Surdulica.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of David Stojanović 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 Radnik Surdulica.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Filip Samurović 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
7 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
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
No hiding place for Ayouba Kosiah
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The dugout
Uroš Filipović dropped after a run of poor form
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Trémoulet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Radnicki Nis left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Uroš Ilić 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
OFK Beograd next, and one man in the Radnik Surdulica dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Aleksandar Pejović 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Vojvodina, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for Aleksandar Dimitrijevic, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 Uros Lazovic to a room that had heard them before.
Market21 Sep 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Radnik Surdulica has been clear about where Mlađan Stevanović stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Market21 Sep 2026
Radnik Surdulica have let the market know Đorđe Jovanović can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.95 for the rest of it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Luka Zorić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Trémoulet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Christ Kouadio commits to Radnik Surdulica for another 3 years.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luka Zorić, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Haris Hajdarević to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Cukaricki, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Uros Lazovic after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Uroš Ilić dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vukašin Bogdanović’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Radnik Surdulica needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Andijon had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Radnik Surdulica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Radnik Surdulica close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Radnik Surdulica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Trémoulet 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Radnik Surdulica are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.53 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Luka Zorić runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Radnik Surdulica have made the call to Banik Ostrava. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Uroš Ilić gets it from the manager
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Squad
The first one for Igor Ivanović
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
Vojvodina go through and Radnik Surdulica go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Axel Urie beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Napredak for Lazar Stojanović 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sandro Trémoulet 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Filip Samurović has come up in conversations Radnik Surdulica were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match22 Aug 2026
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 52 days on the sidelines for Aleksandar Dimitrijevic, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
7.86, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Radnik Surdulica had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Radnik Surdulica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Trémoulet 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Radnik Surdulica asked and Panathinaikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Aug 2026
IMT made Radnik Surdulica work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to PAOK: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Uros Lazovic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Luka Zorić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.42, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
At 23 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Miroslav Milenkovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Stefan Ivic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ivan Jovanovic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aleksandar Dimitrijevic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
140 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Radnik Surdulica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Trémoulet 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Đorđe Jovanović’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Real Madrid: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.