Marked for Kaio Júnior
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Darko Stojanović 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 dugout12 Apr 2032
The manager makes an example of Ibrahim Obansa
“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.
Market12 Apr 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Radnik Surdulica know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
Leart Bekolli 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 Leart Bekolli is on it.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Words at Radnik Surdulica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darko Stojanović 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Kaio Júnior, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
“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.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
When it matters, Axel Urie plays
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.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stefan Vidaković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match22 Mar 2032
Position 5 on 55 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
The Radnik Surdulica production line keeps running
55 graduates out of an academy now rated 7 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jul 2031
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnik Surdulica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Vukašin Bogdanović 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 targets7 Jul 2031
Radnik Surdulica asked and Novi Pazar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Igor Ivanović 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Kaio Júnior has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brayden Johnson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market7 Jul 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Đorđe Jovanović signs something — a contract at Radnik Surdulica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
Axel Urie 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 Axel Urie is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Feb 2031
David Stojanović 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 targets17 Feb 2031
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Radnik Surdulica will try again when the window opens; Partizan may not be selling by then.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Darko Stojanović 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 dugout17 Feb 2031
Uroš Ilić 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.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
Darko Radonjic asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market17 Feb 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Đorđe Jovanović signs something — a contract at Radnik Surdulica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
Axel Urie 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 Axel Urie is on it.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Match17 Feb 2031
Position 6, 50 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.