Dino Kapitanović 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. Opatija told Marin Vučković something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Opatija, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“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 The request is on a desk at Opatija, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Groznica 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.
Nobody at Opatija 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Opatija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dukla Prague keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
Opatija asked and NK Osijek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Rodin 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.
Nikola Rodin 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.
$30.0K was the most the club would pay and Hajduk Split were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows 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.
Gornik Leczna 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Groznica 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.
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 Val Bogolin is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Opatija. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Opatija would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Opatija can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Rodin 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.
BSK Bijelo Brdo next, and one man in the Opatija 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. Opatija know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“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 Opatija, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Opatija close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 4 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.
Dino Kapitanović 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 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Rodin 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Tin Polić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hrvace keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
Opatija asked and NK Osijek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Dinamo Zagreb 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 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 year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Opatija would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Opatija and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Nusret Shehu are not good
Dino Kapitanović 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 Nikola Rodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Opatija will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutVal Bogolin has become a man the manager trusts
Ridwan Hassan 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rhys Walsh 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 Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Opatija 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.
“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 Opatija will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Opatija. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tadej Bonaca trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rajan Žlibanović is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Groznica 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 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.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Opatija lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Dino Kapitanović 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Groznica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Opatija, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Zabbar St. Patrick for Goodness Ajayi 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Opatija have done the hard part with Hajduk Split, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Opatija had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hajduk Split, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luka Hrvojević is living that version at Opatija, and it tends to show in the first month.
Paul Bismarck Tabinas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rhys Walsh 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Opatija are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrik Prodanović signs something — a contract at Opatija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Opatija have gone and got theirs early.
Nobody at Opatija 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Val Bogolin did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikition Delijaj is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sime Grbic after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
SquadAndro Švrljuga falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Val Bogolin
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Leon Brlek