94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Voždovac lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulmalik Mohammed 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 Williams Wonah is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Svetličić signs something — a contract at Voždovac 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 Voždovac, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Voždovac will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Voždovac lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tedesco 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 Williams Wonah is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Svetličić signs something — a contract at Voždovac or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Voždovac, and 5 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Miroslav Rajkovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Williams Wonah is on it.
6 goals in 29 games at Novi Pazar — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Voždovac updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tedesco is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Voždovac 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.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Voždovac know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Luka Svetličić 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hénoc Lolekonda has, at Voždovac, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Tedesco, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Voždovac can pretend not to have heard.
Luka Svetličić 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Voždovac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulmalik Mohammed 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Williams Wonah 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.
Mladost Lucani 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vasilije Kostov did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Hamza Abdullahi 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Tekstilac Odžaci spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vasilije Kostov did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Luka Svetličić 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 Abdulmalik Mohammed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 20 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.
Ušće made Voždovac work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Miroslav Rajkovic kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 Abdulmalik Mohammed is on it.
Chances created: 10. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Luka Svetličić 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 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 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Miroslav Rajkovic could afford to be generous.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac 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 Abdulmalik Mohammed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Voždovac game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Athens Kallithea runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Voždovac, another week without a signature from Martin Pastornický.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Voždovac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulmalik Mohammed 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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Miroslav Rajkovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
3 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Hamza Abdullahi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.29. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tedesco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. FAP Priboj tried to reorganise, Voždovac did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Martin Pastornický 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 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Voždovac will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Voždovac will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Vasilije Kostov, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 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 deal with Napredak 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.
The phone has started ringing about Oliwier Latosi again, and this time the name on the line is Chania. Voždovac are listening politely and promising nothing.
Luka Svetličić 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.
Words at Voždovac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulmalik Mohammed 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.
Voždovac asked and Mladost Lucani said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Voždovac will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Luka Svetličić decided nobody was going anywhere. Ušće had no time left to answer.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vasilije Kostov did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Voždovac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulmalik Mohammed 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. Mladost Lucani have kept their man, and Voždovac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luka Svetličić. 2‑1 against Ušće, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Williams Wonah 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Luka Svetličić at his very best
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Voždovac will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Voždovac asked and Crvena Zvezda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of Peter Thomas has come up in conversations Voždovac were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Voždovac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ognjen Dimitrić 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.
Mladost Lucani 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Voždovac will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Voždovac people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Voždovac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Vojvodina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Luka Svetličić 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.
Voždovac asked and OFK Vršac said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
“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; Voždovac are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Voždovac, and 5 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Miljan Momčilović is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
4 goals in 29 games at Achyronas-Onisilos — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Voždovac updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Voždovac. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miloš Vranjanin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
FAP Priboj held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Voždovac answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Luka Svetličić will call it something else in private.
Stefan Milić 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 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Voždovac can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Miroslav Rajkovic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Veljko Prodanić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vladimir Lučić provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vladimir Lučić. 3‑1 against Ušće, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Voždovac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miloš Vranjanin 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 22 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Voždovac can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Miroslav Rajkovic, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.69, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Voždovac asked and FCSB said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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; Voždovac are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Voždovac, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutMateja Dukić is still being punished for one mistake
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Voždovac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Danilo Knežević has gone, the accounts have $360.0K 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.
Partizan paid $360.0K and Voždovac took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miloš Vranjanin 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. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Voždovac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.