Marked for Jonas Myhrstad
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Isaac Lufuiku
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Isaac Lufuiku will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dugo Selo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Branko Vrgoč 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 Dugo Selo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Dugo Selo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakov Delibegović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
Wages eat 147% of everything Dugo Selo earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Dino Kapitanović 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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“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.
Market20 Mar 2028
The Dino Šimunić talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dugo Selo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Malcolm Mateyo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dugo Selo 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
Dugo Selo have made Marin Vučković available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Feb 2028
Dino Šimunić hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dugo Selo can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Feb 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dugo Selo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Dugo Selo
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Dugo Selo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Branko Vrgoč was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Feb 2028
It needed Marin Vučković to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Segesta, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Josip Krznarić
“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 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Marin Rebic chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Vicko Ožegović 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 Dugo Selo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 Dugo Selo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Feb 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dugo Selo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Dugo Selo close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 2 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A move Jonas Myhrstad would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jonas Myhrstad is living that version at Dugo Selo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The numbers do not look good at Dugo Selo
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Dugo Selo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Branko Vrgoč was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dugo Selo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.