Marked for Benjamin Arthur
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Mar 2030
Partizan up to position 2
69 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market11 Mar 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Partizan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words exchanged at Partizan
Cătălin Cîrjan 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Tommi O'Reilly 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 dugout11 Mar 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Nikola Čumić
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
“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.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
Jakub Moder has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Partizan 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 dugout11 Mar 2030
Kaan Kairinen 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.
Market11 Mar 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Partizan, another week without a signature from Andreas Linde.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Dec 2029
Partizan do the business in Europe
2‑2. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Partizan came through the finding-out well against HNK Rijeka.
Match17 Dec 2029
Partizan up to position 2
41 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Up for the corner, and Jakub Moder delivers — 7.92
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jakub Moder scored, was marked 7.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
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 7.44 for the rest of it.
Market17 Dec 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Partizan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market17 Dec 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Cătălin Cîrjan 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 dugout17 Dec 2029
“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.
Match16 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikola Čumić. 1‑0 against Jedinstvo Ub, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
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Player ratings
Nikola Čumić in the eights
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Boardroom
114% of the income goes out in wages at Partizan
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Dec 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giannis Michailidis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Marco Moreno gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marco Moreno has just signed for Partizan, and for once the answer mattered.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
Gaëtan Laborde, 35, rolls back the years — 7.90
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Partizan
Jakub Moder 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 terraces10 Dec 2029
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match8 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gaëtan Laborde. 2‑0 against TSC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Osho, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Milan Vukotić
9 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Aug 2029
Gaëtan Laborde damages knee ligaments — 48 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
A debut Ivan Grujic will not forget — 8.76
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 2 on the scoresheet, 8.76 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Match22 Aug 2029
Partizan march on in the cup
Dinamo Vranje are out and Partizan go through, 5‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market27 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Radnicki Nis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Partizan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market27 Aug 2029
Partizan say no — this time
The offer from Radnicki Nis for Leard Sadriu 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.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
Iddrisu Baba: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Partizan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Age has not caught Iddrisu Baba yet — 8.00
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market27 Aug 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Partizan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gaëtan Laborde
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Partizan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market20 Aug 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Partizan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Partizan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market20 Aug 2029
“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 Partizan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market20 Aug 2029
Partizan say no — this time
The offer from Radnicki Nis for Matija Ninić 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Partizan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Arthur 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.
Match18 Aug 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Milan Vukotić. 2‑1 against Cukaricki, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gaëtan Laborde
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Partizan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market6 Aug 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Matija Ninić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market6 Aug 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Partizan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market6 Aug 2029
Partizan say no — this time
The offer from Cukaricki for Giannis Michailidis 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.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Market6 Aug 2029
Jakub Moder wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Partizan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Gabriel Osho 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Arthur 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 targets6 Aug 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gaëtan Laborde
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Partizan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Partizan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market30 Jul 2029
“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 Partizan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market30 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market30 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Partizan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Gabriel Osho in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Benjamin Arthur 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 dugout30 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateja Milovanović, and the manager let it.
Match28 Jul 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
In brief
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Partizan
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Loan watch
Nikola Simić wants to come home
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gaëtan Laborde
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Partizan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Partizan can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tekstilac Odžaci waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Partizan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market16 Jul 2029
Partizan say no — this time
The offer from Cukaricki for Leard Sadriu 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Partizan
Cătălin Cîrjan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Benjamin Arthur 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 dugout16 Jul 2029
Nikola Čumić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Partizan 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 dugout16 Jul 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Partizan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gaëtan Laborde
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Partizan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FAP Priboj waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Partizan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match9 Jul 2029
Partizan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 67 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market9 Jul 2029
“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.
Market9 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Partizan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market9 Jul 2029
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Cătălin Cîrjan wants continental football; whether Partizan can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Jedinstvo Ub, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad9 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Arthur 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Jul 2029
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Partizan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market2 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Partizan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market2 Jul 2029
Partizan say no — this time
The offer from Volos NPS for Benjamin Arthur 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.
Market2 Jul 2029
“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 Partizan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Partizan
Gaëtan Laborde 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.
Market2 Jul 2029
Add another name to the list: Jedinstvo Ub have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vukašin Đurđević. The answer from Partizan has not changed — yet.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamin Arthur, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
Partizan have made the call to Jedinstvo Ub. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Too much change too quickly at Partizan
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jun 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Partizan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market25 Jun 2029
“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.
Market25 Jun 2029
The phone has started ringing about Benjamin Arthur again, and this time the name on the line is Fehervar. Partizan are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market25 Jun 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Jedinstvo Ub keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Partizan
Cătălin Cîrjan 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Partizan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Arthur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
A loan enquiry to Jedinstvo Ub: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benjamin Arthur trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and OFK Beograd waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Partizan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Jun 2029
“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.
Market18 Jun 2029
NK Maribor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Partizan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market18 Jun 2029
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kaan Kairinen wants continental football; whether Partizan can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Partizan
Gabriel Osho 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Benjamin Arthur 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 dugout18 Jun 2029
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.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dimitrije Janković, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
Leard Sadriu knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Partizan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jun 2029
Partizan say no — this time
The offer from CSKA 1948 for Benjamin Arthur 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Partizan heard it as anything else.
Market4 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Partizan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Partizan
Kaan Kairinen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market4 Jun 2029
The name of Abdulmalik Mohammed has come up in conversations Partizan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Arthur 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Too much change too quickly at Partizan
18 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.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom28 May 2029
Continental nights are coming to Partizan
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Squad28 May 2029
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Partizan will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market28 May 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihajlo Petković will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 May 2029
A falling-out at Partizan
Cătălin Cîrjan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market28 May 2029
Ibrahim Zubariu comes back from a loan that worked
27 appearances and 7 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The dugout28 May 2029
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.
The dugout28 May 2029
Đorđe Đorđić gets picked when it counts
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 Đorđe Đorđić is on it.
Market28 May 2029
Partizan have made Nihad Mujakić available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Radović 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 May 2029
Mateja Milovanović damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
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.
Match14 May 2029
Partizan up to position 2
67 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market14 May 2029
“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 Partizan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 May 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dimitrije Janković will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market14 May 2029
Cătălin Cîrjan wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Partizan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad14 May 2029
Jakub Moder 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 dugout14 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Gabriel Osho
“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.
The dugout14 May 2029
Milan Vukotić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Partizan 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Yegor Prutsev 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 May 2029
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Partizan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 May 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Partizan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The Partizan board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Market7 May 2029
Jakub Moder wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Partizan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giannis Michailidis, and the manager let it.
Squad7 May 2029
Partizan are still strangers to each other
13 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.
The dugout7 May 2029
Nobody at Partizan 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.
Market7 May 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Partizan, another week without a signature from Leard Sadriu.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Apr 2029
Partizan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 67 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market16 Apr 2029
“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 Partizan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Partizan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market16 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dimitrije Janković will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Gabriel Osho in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Iddrisu Baba wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Partizan know now that the thought has arrived.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“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 dugout16 Apr 2029
Milan Vukotić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Partizan 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.
Market16 Apr 2029
The name of Milan Vukotić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Partizan say nothing, which says plenty.