“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Maribor can pretend not to have heard.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Maribor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Maribor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The name of Johan Portilla has come up in conversations NK Maribor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. NK Maribor have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Maribor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
At 22 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. NK Maribor have a decision that made itself.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Maribor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Maribor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
The shirt still fits. Jure Ilicic is back at NK Maribor, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Maribor can pretend not to have heard.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Tio Cipot has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Maribor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Maribor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. NK Maribor have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Maribor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The name of Isaac Tshipamba has come up in conversations NK Maribor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. NK Maribor have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Maribor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Johan Portilla arrives at NK Maribor with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
In brief
The terracesThe press cannot get enough of Dario Vizinger