Marked for Ivan Kovačić
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 May 2028
Jacopo Lanzi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alcione Milano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 May 2028
Ivan Kovačić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Tjaš Begić
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout29 May 2028
Mauro Iturra has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Alcione Milano 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.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes Giorgio Galli a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Alcione Milano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Alcione Milano's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alcione Milano has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Mar 2028
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Simone Palombi 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Luca Zamparo 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.
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.
Match18 Mar 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Giana Erminio leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Mattia Muroni knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mattia Muroni trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The plan did not have a place for Ivan Kovačić
Nobody at Alcione Milano 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Tjaš Begić runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giorgio Galli commits to Alcione Milano for another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Manfredi Francesco Nespola 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 dugout6 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Market6 Mar 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Marked 7.71 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Alcione Milano had the best player on the pitch.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Tjaš Begić makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
50 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Cremonese wanted more than $24.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The dugout21 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Matías Ormart 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alcione Milano told Ivan Kovačić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Marked 7.45. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alessandro Alberti was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Alcione Milano dressing room was either.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Giorgio Galli knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giorgio Galli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Alcione Milano lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
“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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Alcione Milano 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Alcione Milano's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alcione Milano has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alcione Milano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Zamparo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Ivan Kovačić
“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.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
A performance of 8.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alcione Milano can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alcione Milano can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AS Roma is saying, and nobody at Alcione Milano is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Alcione Milano know it.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
The offer went to Gubbio 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match8 Jan 2028
Carpi made Alcione Milano work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Ivan Kovačić
“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.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Marked 8.34 — 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.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alcione Milano told Giacomo Giacomone something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Dec 2027
Simone Palombi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
Wages eat 146% of everything Alcione Milano 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 dugout27 Dec 2027
“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.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.43, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Tjaš Begić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
Late, late show earns Alcione Milano a point
Minute 92, against Cittadella, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match27 Dec 2027
Half the programme played, position 9, 18 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Match25 Dec 2027
It needed Braian Álvarez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Cittadella, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Giorgio Galli
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Dec 2027
Position 14, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Simone Palombi 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
Trento left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Kovačić
“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 dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Alessandro Alberti to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The plan did not have a place for Mattia Muroni
Nobody at Alcione Milano 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.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
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.
Market13 Dec 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alcione Milano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Nov 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“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; Alcione Milano are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match20 Nov 2027
0‑2 to Dolomiti Bellunesi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Tjaš Begić runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad22 Nov 2027
İsmail Korkut 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
The plan did not have a place for Ivan Kovačić
Nobody at Alcione Milano 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Emerick Lopes gets picked when it counts
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 Emerick Lopes is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alcione Milano can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad8 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alcione Milano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Kovačić
“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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Marked 7.98. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Alcione Milano are still strangers to each other
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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Leonardo Mendicino
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Leonardo Mendicino has come out of that comparison in the side, and Alcione Milano have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match6 Nov 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Manfredi Francesco Nespola trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Oct 2027
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Alcione Milano are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Simone Palombi 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Tjaš Begić
“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.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match16 Oct 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Pro Vercelli leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Luca Zamparo knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Zamparo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alessandro Melis
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alcione Milano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Aug 2027
“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 Alcione Milano, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alcione Milano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Ivan Kovačić 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Zamparo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Zamparo, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Perugia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
A mark of 7.24, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
Mattia Muroni breaks a bone — 23 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market2 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alcione Milano have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
Paolo Chierichetti has gone, the accounts have $1.5M 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market2 Aug 2027
Catanzaro paid $1.5M and Alcione Milano took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Ivan Kovačić 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tjaš Begić 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Alcione Milano asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“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; Alcione Milano are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
31 days out for Mattia Muroni after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alcione Milano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alcione Milano have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Ivan Kovačić 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Pitou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Juventus have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Emerick Lopes
“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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Kevin Bright 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 Alcione Milano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Mattia Muroni out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alcione Milano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ivan Kovačić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Alcione Milano asked and AS Roma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market19 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Marco Melchionda again, and this time the name on the line is Livorno. Alcione Milano are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Too much change too quickly at Alcione Milano
8 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Alcione Milano have made the call to Bari. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market19 Jul 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Marco Melchionda has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Alcione Milano.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Mattia Muroni out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alcione Milano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Ivan Kovačić 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 Alcione Milano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Fiorello Allushi arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Fiorello Allushi has, at Alcione Milano, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benevento have kept their man, and Alcione Milano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Luca Zamparo gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Alcione Milano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Pitou 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Empoli: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Alcione Milano have made the call to AS Roma. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market12 Jul 2027
Ivan Kovačić is 20, and Alcione Milano have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 May 2027
Ilija Đilas 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 BSK Bijelo Brdo can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout3 May 2027
This is not rotation. Ilija Đilas has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at BSK Bijelo Brdo is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Squad3 May 2027
Filip Jović 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 BSK Bijelo Brdo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at BSK Bijelo Brdo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fran Peček 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Guja, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 May 2027
Bruno Putica gets picked when it counts
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 Bruno Putica is on it.
Market3 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Damjan Mugoša’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout3 May 2027
Ivan Kovačić has been promised minutes
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 Ivan Kovačić has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Mar 2027
Ilija Đilas 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 BSK Bijelo Brdo can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” BSK Bijelo Brdo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Semir Smajlagić and BSK Bijelo Brdo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Filip Jović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Domagoj Stranput 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Too much change too quickly at BSK Bijelo Brdo
8 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer from Chindia Târgoviște for Samid Akanni 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.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Filip Kovačević has gone, the accounts have $280.0K 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.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Filip Jović 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
NK Varazdin paid $280.0K and BSK Bijelo Brdo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filip Jović, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BSK Bijelo Brdo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rudes have kept their man, and BSK Bijelo Brdo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Róbert Rétyi slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Róbert Rétyi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market7 Sep 2026
Tadej Bonaca is 20, and BSK Bijelo Brdo have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Petar Korov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Petar Korov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Aleksa Raca 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Kovačić, and the manager let it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Samid Akanni’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.