Marked for Emmanuel Ujah
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Grafičar's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Grafičar has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
Anger at Grafičar spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Grafičar
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Grafičar is running low.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Grafičar
Miljan Vukadinović 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dimitrije Stevanović, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Grafičar told Luka Luković something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match30 Oct 2027
Honours even between Grafičar and TSC
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Luka Luković loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Luka Luković's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
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Squad
The armband comes off Miljan Vukadinović
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Words at Grafičar training over how hard people work
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Marked 7.77 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Grafičar
Miljan Vukadinović 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aleksa Damjanović. 1‑0 against Voždovac, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
The big one: Jedinstvo Ub come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Grafičar will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Borac Čačak to sit and watch. I want to come back to Grafičar and fight for my place.” 16 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
86% of the income goes out in wages at Grafičar
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 dugout1 Mar 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Dusan Lukic could afford to be generous.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Grafičar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Ujah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 Mar 2027
Nemanja Vidić is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Grafičar has been clear about where Nemanja Vidić stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Đorđe Ranković at 18 — 8.35
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Đorđe Ranković did not need any: 8.35, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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 Grafičar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Stefan Mladenovski has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Đorđe Ranković’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Grafičar.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Mladen Živković
“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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Grafičar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balša Vukotić 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Dusan Lukic: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Grafičar take on the side everybody is chasing
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The dugout
Balša Vukotić dropped after a run of poor form
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Squad
Đorđe Ranković, 18, is the weekend’s best young player
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Grafičar
Stefan Gudelj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
Kabel left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ionuţ Gurău, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Balša Vukotić 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Lukijan Abadžija's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mladen Živković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 19 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.11 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Grafičar cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Aleksa Paić 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Lukijan Abadžija’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Grafičar.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Stefan Veličković at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Grafičar.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Grafičar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miljan Vukadinović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Grafičar are still strangers to each other
12 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Darko Lazić gets it from the manager
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Mladen Živković
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 22 in, 14 out at Grafičar
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 22 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Grafičar
Aleksa Paić 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.
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
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ionuţ Gurău has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Grafičar know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Balša Vukotić 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Veljko Đorđević, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zemun in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.