“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Luzern can pretend not to have heard.
Alessandro Marcandalli 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.
6 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.
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.
Tyron Owusu 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Luzern can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Alessandro Marcandalli is on it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Luzern know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Francisco Bareiro has written the date down.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Luzern that is a harder question to answer.
“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 The request is on a desk at Luzern, and it is not being withdrawn.
Pascal Loretz 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tyron Owusu 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Schalke 04 have kept their man, and Luzern go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Luzern can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Luzern 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luzern this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I watch every Luzern game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Botosani runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Luzern are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pascal Loretz signs something — a contract at Luzern or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“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.
Spartak Subotica pay $230.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iddrisu Baba 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.
6 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.
“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.
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 offer went to Spartak Subotica this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Partizan asked and Radnik Surdulica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Partizan offered $1.2M; Vojvodina said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The phone has started ringing about Nemanja Trifunović again, and this time the name on the line is Napredak. Partizan are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mateja Milovanović and Partizan agree another 4 years.
Vojvodina will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mihai Butean has pre-agreed a move to Partizan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Iddrisu Baba 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.
Vladislav Kamilov 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Mohamed Azzi 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ufa has been clear about where Alexandr Perchenok stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Khomukha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Konstantin Troyanov has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ufa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
SquadNikola Simić is training like a man with a point to make
Position 3, 52 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iddrisu Baba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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 Iddrisu Baba is on it.
4 goals in 26 games at Novi Pazar — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Partizan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
SquadSaša Zdjelar is the talk of the training ground
Mohamed Azzi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Simić 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.
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 Mohamed Azzi is on it.
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Kojzek 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Partizan, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Partizan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Svetozar Marković 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 Saša Zdjelar is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Milan Vukotić signs something — a contract at Partizan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Partizan the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Saša Zdjelar
SquadJack Hendry is training like a man with a point to make
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ufa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Azzi 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.
Emiliano Daghero 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.
Nobody at Ufa 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ufa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mohamed Azzi 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Nikola Simić 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Partizan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stefan Milić 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Kojzek 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.
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.
7 goals in 26 games at Ufa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Partizan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
4 goals in 26 games at Novi Pazar — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Partizan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Vladislav Kamilov 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Mohamed Azzi 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ufa told Emiliano Daghero something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutMohamed Azzi has become a man the manager trusts
66 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Vladislav Kamilov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Azzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Khomukha, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Ufa are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
Arsenal Tula next, and one man in the Ufa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Partizan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 3, 52 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.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iddrisu Baba 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.
“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.
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Partizan no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.04, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Azzi 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.
Everybody at Ufa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Danil Sedov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Danil Akhatov reports back to Ufa with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ufa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Azzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ivan Lomaev: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“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.
59 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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 Ufa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The bid was some way short and Ufa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Ufa until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Shamil Isaev reports back to Ufa with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Partizan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Saša Zdjelar 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.
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Iddrisu Baba 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.
“I watch every Partizan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pirin Blagoevgrad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alan Khabalov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ufa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Bogdan Kostić, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.34
A mark of 8.34 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The offer from Zenit Penza for Danil Akhatov 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.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Ufa know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Mohamed Azzi 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Simić 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ufa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Danil Akhatov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Bogdan Kostić, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.10
A mark of 8.10 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Dilan Ortíz has gone, the accounts have $4.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Sagan Tosu paid $4.9M and Ufa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Mohamed Azzi 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.
15 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Dilan Ortíz takes the afternoon — 9.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dilan Ortíz provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bogdan Kostić did not need any: 8.32, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ufa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Azzi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bogdan Kostić. 3‑1 against Volga, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Kamilov 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Dilan Ortíz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Denis Kutin
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ufa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mohamed Azzi 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 had been thinking. Nikola Simić 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.
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.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bogdan Kostić did not need any: 8.11, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Vladislav Kamilov 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mohamed Azzi 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Osman Minatulaev, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ufa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Azzi 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 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.
Bibars Natcho 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iddrisu Baba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Iddrisu Baba is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Milan Vukotić signs something — a contract at Partizan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Mohamed Azzi 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Ufa and Neftekhimik, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Nikola Simić 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.
Chelyabinsk will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ufa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Bogdan Kostić, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.07, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mohamed Azzi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 19 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.
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
11 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 words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
500 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Simić 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ufa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Partizan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Partizan close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 5 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iddrisu Baba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Bibars Natcho is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Partizan prefer.
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 Nemanja Trifunović is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ufa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Nikola Simić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ufa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Danil Lipovoy is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $5.3M has been paid because Oston O'runov is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.4M has been paid because Jack Hendry is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
$1.5M was the most the club would pay and Barcelona were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The name of Mateja Milovanović has come up in conversations Partizan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Partizan spend $5.3M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $5.3M for Oston O'runov, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
In brief
SquadIddrisu Baba falls out with a teammate over standards