33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jadran Dekani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jadran Dekani can pretend not to have heard.
Andreas Šćulac 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.
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Jadran Dekani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artemijus Tutyškinas 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jadran Dekani can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jadran Dekani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 40 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Jadran Dekani is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Jadran Dekani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artemijus Tutyškinas 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jadran Dekani can pretend not to have heard.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hugo Casado has just signed for Jadran Dekani, and for once the answer mattered.
“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; Jadran Dekani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marko Simonič 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Jadran Dekani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ishaq Kayode 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. Artemijus Tutyškinas 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Andreas Šćulac 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
Jadran Dekani close the window on a squad of their own making
4 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.
Andreas Šćulac 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Jadran Dekani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artemijus Tutyškinas 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Goran Paracki.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
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 Erik Verbic left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Jadran Dekani will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Position 15 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Jadran Dekani, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Nikola Macolić 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Abdul Samed Mukadas 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
140% of the income goes out in wages at Jadran Dekani
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 words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jan Kvída and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Jadran Dekani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Stanojević 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jadran Dekani told Patrik Katič something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jadran Dekani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tevž Debelak 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.
Nobody at Jadran Dekani 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
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.” Erik Verbic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Jan Kvída 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 Maks Veličkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jadran Dekani, another week without a signature from Tevž Debelak.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marko Simonič is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Erik Verbic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutRiad Silajdžić dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Tian Kujović 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Jadran Dekani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Samed Mukadas 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.
8 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 instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
4 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.
Tian Kujović 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 Abdul Samed Mukadas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Erik Verbic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jadran Dekani can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maks Veličkov 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
0‑3 to Brinje Grosuplje, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Jan Kvída 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 Maks Veličkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jan Kvída, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
107% of the income goes out in wages at Jadran Dekani
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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Jadran Dekani dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Erik Verbic after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Jadran Dekani 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.
Slovan Ljubljana next, and one man in the Jadran Dekani dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Tian Kujović 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jadran Dekani and Rudar Velenje in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tevž Debelak 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
21 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.
Jan Kvída 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.
Jadran Dekani asked and Mura said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Jadran Dekani were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Jadran Dekani know which stage they are at.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Jadran Dekani will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
15 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. David Stanojević is living that version at Jadran Dekani, and it tends to show in the first month.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Goran Paracki and Jadran Dekani agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. David Stanojević is a Jadran Dekani player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The shirt still fits. Andreas Šćulac is back at Jadran Dekani, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Goran Paracki 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpija Ljubljana have kept their man, and Jadran Dekani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tevž Debelak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sandi Birsa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.