148 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IMT lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IMT can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Orijent 1919 for Nikola Ralić 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IMT this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Radočaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IMT, another week without a signature from Leontije Vasić.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at IMT, and it is not being withdrawn.
Moussa Sissako 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Radočaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for IMT is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
26 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at IMT now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IMT, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Juninho is on it.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IMT lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 IMT, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IMT this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at IMT can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Ognjen Čančarević's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IMT, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Radosław Wypart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
32 appearances at FC Bihor Oradea and the goals have stopped going in. IMT lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Radočaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. IMT told Charly Keita something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iván Martos signs something — a contract at IMT or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mateja Zuvić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Stefan Šapić is on it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Jérémy Manzorro 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikola Krstić 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikola Krstić. 1‑0 against Cukaricki, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I watch every IMT game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Voždovac runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Miloš Bakić did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IMT this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Siniša Popović has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadWords at IMT training over how hard people work
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 IMT, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Radočaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every IMT game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Voždovac runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Mateusz Białka 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Lazar Mladenovic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Trayal Kruševac in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Đokić knocks on the manager’s door
0‑3 against Jedinstvo Ub, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milan Kolarević 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.
Aleksa Cvetković 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Aleksa Adamović has written the date down.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Tekstilac Odžaci will replay every second of the added time for a week.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Filip Pajkić 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.
“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; Ušće are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milan Kolarević 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.
He is 21 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dominik Gregorski and Ušće agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Petar Radić is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Ušće will try very hard not to make too much of it.