Marked for Tim Matanovič
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Apr 2029
Tim Matanovič 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 Nafta 1903 can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nafta 1903 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Balázs Bakti 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Aleks Pihler has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Nafta 1903 is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Nafta 1903
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mike Zaruma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Balázs Bakti 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 Nafta 1903, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Rodney Kroeze has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nafta 1903 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.
Market16 Apr 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amadej Maroša signs something — a contract at Nafta 1903 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match16 Apr 2029
Nafta 1903 have something to play for
Position 4 on 54 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Sep 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Nafta 1903, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Balázs Bakti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Sep 2028
Bilje left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Mike Zaruma 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 dugout18 Sep 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 1‑2 Miha Balkovec left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
No hiding place for Din Čatak
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Din Čatak, and the manager let it.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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 Andraž Borovnik is on it.
Looking ahead18 Sep 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against NK Krsko in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Aug 2028
Luka Pihler breaks a bone — 33 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match23 Aug 2028
Slovan Ljubljana are out and Nafta 1903 go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
What a way to start for Pierre Delacour — 7.92
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.92 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Market28 Aug 2028
Aleks Pihler 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 Nafta 1903 can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Tim Matanovič pops up at the right end — 7.99
7.99, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Karlovac 1919, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Mike Zaruma has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Nafta 1903 is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Nejc Pušnik 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.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jesenice have kept their man, and Nafta 1903 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jun 2028
$2.6M from Basel for Lucas Erjavšek. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Squad19 Jun 2028
106 days out for Luka Pihler after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nafta 1903 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Luka Verbič
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Verbič will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nafta 1903 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The terraces19 Jun 2028
Nafta 1903 sell a favourite for $2.6M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Lucas Erjavšek was one of the reasons people came, and $2.6M does not replace that by itself.
Market19 Jun 2028
“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 Nafta 1903, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Balázs Bakti was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Nafta 1903 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Pihler 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 targets19 Jun 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Grobnican 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Feb 2028
Tim Matanovič 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 Nafta 1903 can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Nafta 1903 close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 3 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Balázs Bakti 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 Nafta 1903 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Feb 2028
Mura left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Nafta 1903 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blaž Sintič 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Timotej Drobež is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Nafta 1903 will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Nafta 1903 prefer.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Miha Balkovec to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Franko Bosančić
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
$370.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Market12 Jul 2027
Bravo come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Nafta 1903 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Supporters turn on the $370.0K sale of Michael Ogwuche
He is going to Radomlje, the club has $370.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market12 Jul 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
This is not rotation. Aleks Pihler has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Nafta 1903 is pretending otherwise.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Balázs Bakti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zeleznicar Pancevo have kept their man, and Nafta 1903 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market12 Jul 2027
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Nafta 1903
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franko Bosančić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.