Marked for Mario Marković
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Loznica
Đorđe Šušnjar 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Hameed Aderoju 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.
Boardroom17 May 2027
126% of the income goes out in wages at Loznica
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 dugout17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Milan Bajić: “I am not a substitute”
“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 Loznica will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Loznica know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Loznica
Godswill Vadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Loznica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđe Šušnjar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 124% of everything Loznica 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 dugout19 Apr 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
5 new faces, and Loznica are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Liu Chengyu 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 Loznica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Loznica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđe Šušnjar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Mar 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages swallow 130% of the Loznica income
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 dugout22 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at Loznica
Something was said to Marko Luković and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Loznica are still strangers to each other
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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Dunđerski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Loznica's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Loznica has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Loznica will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Loznica
Đorđe Šušnjar 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets4 Jan 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 dugout4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Loznica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hameed Aderoju was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Filip Sergej after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Loznica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Loznica's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Loznica has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 139% of the Loznica income
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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ranko Puškić, and the manager let it.
Match26 Dec 2026
Smederevo 1924 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Loznica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Šušnjar 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
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 Filip Sergej to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Loznica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Godswill Vadze 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Loznica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Šušnjar 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Nikola Tedić 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against FAP Priboj in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Đorđe Šušnjar signs something — a contract at Loznica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
David Dunđerski damages knee ligaments — 73 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win for Loznica
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Loznica are no longer polite ones.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Simão Pedro: 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.” Loznica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
140% of the income goes out in wages at Loznica
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Hameed Aderoju 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Stefan Nikolić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Loznica needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 29 in, 20 out at Loznica
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 29 arrived, 20 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Loznica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hameed Aderoju 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 Sep 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The award goes to Mario Marković, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Market7 Sep 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Loznica signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for David Dunđerski
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. David Dunđerski has come out of that comparison in the side, and Loznica have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Maid Ahmed 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Aug 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad31 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Zeleznicar Pancevo 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.59 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napredak have kept their man, and Loznica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Strahinja Mladenović 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ranko Puškić
“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
Match19 Aug 2026
Loznica bow out of the cup
Radnicki Nis go through and Loznica go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad24 Aug 2026
8 saves: Ajia Yakub was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Nikola Tedić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Aug 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 Loznica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cukaricki have kept their man, and Loznica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Loznica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Marković 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petar Sretenović, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.78, 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
Upbeat
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Branislav Kocić would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Branislav Kocić is living that version at Loznica, and it tends to show in the first month.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Loznica
Branislav Kocić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Slobodan Sergej is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luka Radonjic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dusan Rajkovic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Darko Mitrovic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mario Marković. 1‑0 against Mačva Šabac, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.