The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Police is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Police can pretend not to have heard.
Oumar Koné 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AS Police will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Demba Dièye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Police this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at AS Police saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 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.
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 Ousmane Ouédraogo is on it.
Something was said to Demba Dièye and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Police, another week without a signature from Kwame Annan.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at AS Police has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
In brief
The dugoutTiméo Gourlin knocks on the manager's door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Police is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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. 19 actions, 6.75, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Police this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Diarra have kept their man, and AS Police go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Javor-Matis can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Loznica have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mamane Moustapha Sabo. The answer from Javor-Matis has not changed — yet.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Javor-Matis close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 12 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Javor-Matis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Radnicki Nis, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Voždovac moved on, Prince Balladom reports back to Javor-Matis, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Ognjen Lukić 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.
Javor-Matis asked and Tekstilac Odžaci said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Grafičar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Javor-Matis is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Javor-Matis have done the hard part with Partizan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Javor-Matis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Zeleznicar Pancevo had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Javor-Matis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal with Crvena Zvezda 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.
The offer went to Novi Pazar this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Dylan Dassy 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Strahinja Jovanovic after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The offer from Loznica for Mamane Moustapha Sabo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
$490.0K settles it between the clubs for Morgan Bates
Tekstilac Odžaci have accepted the money. What Javor-Matis do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Javor-Matis, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.83 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ikenna Benjamin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Javor-Matis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Partizan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ognjen Lukić 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Javor-Matis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Mamane Moustapha Sabo again, and this time the name on the line is Loznica. Javor-Matis are listening politely and promising nothing.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Subotica have kept their man, and Javor-Matis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Mitrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Javor-Matis have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$140.0K on the table at Radnicki Nis. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Boubacari Doucouré 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. TSC have kept their man, and Javor-Matis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dusan Babic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Ognjen Lukić 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.
Radnik Surdulica wanted more than $97.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Javor-Matis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Javor-Matis has been clear about where Mamane Moustapha Sabo stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mass Sise, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Javor-Matis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Mitrović 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Javor-Matis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mladost Lucani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Javor-Matis is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Javor-Matis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ikenna Benjamin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Javor-Matis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$97.0K on the table at Radnik Surdulica. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Ognjen Lukić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. TSC have kept their man, and Javor-Matis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Javor-Matis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Javor-Matis can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Mamane Moustapha Sabo has come up in conversations Javor-Matis were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The offer from AFC Leopards for Prince Balladom 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.
Everything agreed with Radnicki Nis, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Javor-Matis asked and TSC 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 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 Javor-Matis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Javor-Matis have made the call to Partizan. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Javor-Matis and Vojvodina have settled on $200.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Javor-Matis offered $97.0K; Radnik Surdulica said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Javor-Matis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Javor-Matis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Mitrović 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.
Dylan Dassy 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.
“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; Javor-Matis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Javor-Matis, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Javor-Matis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Javor-Matis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mamane Moustapha Sabo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lazar Mićić signs something — a contract at Javor-Matis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Javor-Matis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Javor-Matis will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Julius Emiloju Junior is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ognjen Lukić signs something — a contract at Javor-Matis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Javor-Matis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Javor-Matis can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Ognjen Dimitrić 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.
Nobody at Javor-Matis 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lazar Mićić signs something — a contract at Javor-Matis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Stefan Mitrović has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Javor-Matis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Javor-Matis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Javor-Matis 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ognjen Lukić signs something — a contract at Javor-Matis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lazar Konstantinov 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 Javor-Matis. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Javor-Matis, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Javor-Matis 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 Martin Anđelković is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lazar Mićić signs something — a contract at Javor-Matis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Javor-Matis will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 Andreja Ristić has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Mitrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Javor-Matis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Javor-Matis 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Javor-Matis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Javor-Matis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Javor-Matis would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Javor-Matis could ask drops and the wages Julius Emiloju Junior can ask rise.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Javor-Matis can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Javor-Matis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Yenisey have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Owugha Tonyemiete. The answer from Javor-Matis has not changed — yet.
“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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Javor-Matis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Mitrović 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mass Sise trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
9 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Javor-Matis close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 3 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Predrag Popadić is living that version at Javor-Matis, and it tends to show in the first month.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Radnik Surdulica moved on, Ikenna Benjamin reports back to Javor-Matis, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Lucas Ferreira 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.
Javor-Matis asked and FC Cincinnati 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 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Javor-Matis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Javor-Matis can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken Prince Balladom to Radnicki Nis has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Javor-Matis with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Javor-Matis asked and Cukaricki said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Javor-Matis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Napredak waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Javor-Matis is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Javor-Matis asked and PAOK 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Javor-Matis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Javor-Matis will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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 Javor-Matis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Javor-Matis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dylan Dassy 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.
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. 11 actions, 7.00, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“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; Javor-Matis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Lucas Ferreira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Javor-Matis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Đokić is on it.
Cukaricki next, and one man in the Javor-Matis dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Javor-Matis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Javor-Matis that is a harder question to answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Javor-Matis. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mass Sise provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Javor-Matis, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Javor-Matis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lucas Ferreira 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Partizan go through and Javor-Matis go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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 Javor-Matis, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Javor-Matis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Strahinja Jovanovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Javor-Matis can pretend not to have heard.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lazar Konstantinov has his answer from Javor-Matis; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
Looking aheadJavor-Matis take on the side everybody is chasing
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Javor-Matis can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Javor-Matis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Prince Balladom has come up in conversations Javor-Matis were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Javor-Matis know it.
Something was said to Lazar Mićić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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. Javor-Matis will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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 Martin Anđelković is on it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Partizan is saying, and nobody at Javor-Matis is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Javor-Matis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Mićić 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Javor-Matis 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 Javor-Matis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Javor-Matis have made the call to Crvena Zvezda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Crvena Zvezda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lazar Mićić signs something — a contract at Javor-Matis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.