It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jarun Zagreb this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Ivan Čurković 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.
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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.48 on the card, and the Jarun Zagreb support went home talking about one name.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
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.” Jean Meyer chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Jarun Zagreb is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Abdoulaye Djiré 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 Martin Janáček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Vrezh Mkrtchyan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Jarun Zagreb would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jarun Zagreb know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jarun Zagreb. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Diego Saina did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Paschal Durugbor 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 Martin Janáček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Patrik Iliev is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
NK Varazdin go through and Jarun Zagreb go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Lucko kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Jarun Zagreb will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jarun Zagreb will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jarun Zagreb can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Marcos Pacheco 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jarun Zagreb have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7 goals in one match, Diego Saina on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jarun Zagreb and Kustosija.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gülağa Əsədov has, at Jarun Zagreb, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bernardo Pereira and Jarun Zagreb agree another 3 years.
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 18 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 30 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiva Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Jarun Zagreb is enjoying the guessing.
“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; Jarun Zagreb are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Paschal Durugbor 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 Abdoulaye Djiré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 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.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Čurković knocks on the manager's door
Abdoulaye Djiré, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Everything agreed with HNK Rijeka, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Janáček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marcos Pacheco 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.
At 22 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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jarun Zagreb have done the hard part with Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Istra 1961 is saying, and nobody at Jarun Zagreb is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Janáček was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Istra 1961 have kept their man, and Jarun Zagreb go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nick Ocvirek 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $10.3K — a club that wants Marino Gudelj enough to be asked twice.
The deal with Lokomotiva Zagreb is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Jarun Zagreb offered $10.0K; Hajduk Split 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trnje have kept their man, and Jarun Zagreb go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Jarun Zagreb training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Janáček 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dario Livaja has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Filip Vlasic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mateo Vukas has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The mood at Jarun Zagreb has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
Something was said to Nick Ocvirek and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Čurković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Vojvodina; Jarun Zagreb go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Patrik Iliev has just signed for Jarun Zagreb, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Jarun Zagreb training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peter Pokorný 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torpedo-BelAZ have kept their man, and Jarun Zagreb go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Jarun Zagreb this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jarun Zagreb, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jarun Zagreb lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Jarun Zagreb close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 0 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marcos Pacheco has just signed for Jarun Zagreb, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Peter Pokorný 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.
Jarun Zagreb asked and Reggiana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.