Marked for Arthur Parker
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2028
24 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market13 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Din Begović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Djakovo Croatia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Brajković 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.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The borrowing at Djakovo Croatia reaches $9.9M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $9.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“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 Djakovo Croatia will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Nov 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Djakovo Croatia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Djakovo Croatia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Haye van Gemert for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Djakovo Croatia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Antonio Radonić 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
“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 dugout15 Nov 2027
Nikica Filipović asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
Uljanik Pula next, and one man in the Djakovo Croatia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market15 Nov 2027
The Din Begović talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Djakovo Croatia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market15 Nov 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Djakovo Croatia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Radonić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Hajduk Split: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
HNK Rijeka 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Djakovo Croatia
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 May 2027
“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 Djakovo Croatia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 2027
Bruno Brajković 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
“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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Djakovo Croatia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Vračar 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 dugout24 May 2027
Leon Raljić knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leon Raljić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 May 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Mario Kovac has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad3 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Djakovo Croatia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Luka Vračar 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 dugout3 May 2027
Luka Vračar 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 dugout3 May 2027
Arthur Parker without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Arthur Parker was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout3 May 2027
Diter Đuričić knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diter Đuričić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leon Jadek’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad3 May 2027
Duje Budiša: “I am not a substitute”
“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 Djakovo Croatia will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Written off a fortnight ago, the squad has closed ranks and answered on the pitch. Something was said behind that door, and so far it is holding.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Djakovo Croatia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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 Matej Grahovac is on it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Petar Vuko 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Djakovo Croatia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Jan Hlapčić 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
The Din Begović talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Djakovo Croatia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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 Antonio Klarić-Kukuz has written the date down.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Djakovo Croatia will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Mario Kovac has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Djakovo Croatia can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad8 Feb 2027
7 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Bruno Brajković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stipe Vladušić, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Petar Vuko 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arthur Parker and Djakovo Croatia agree another 4 years.
Market8 Feb 2027
Arthur Parker is 20, and Djakovo Croatia have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market8 Feb 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Djakovo Croatia signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.