Marked for Mark Isong
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dugo Selo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Roko Brajković 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.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
Wages swallow 166% of the Dugo Selo 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vedran Dalić, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Karlo Taslak: “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 Dugo Selo will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market11 Oct 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Danijel Jakolić has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Dugo Selo.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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 Luka Šimunović is on it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Dugo Selo man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Jurica Jurčec was the best thing in any of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2027
Dorian Klarin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dugo Selo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The paperwork begins on Lukas Đikić
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dugo Selo have done the hard part with HNK Rijeka, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Marko Mikulić 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
Dugo Selo asked and NK Osijek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Dugo Selo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlo Mateković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Luka Bilandžić back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Dugo Selo has worked with Luka Bilandžić before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
137% of the income goes out in wages at Dugo Selo
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 dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Mark Isong
“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.
Loan watch12 Jul 2027
“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 Dugo Selo, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Dugo Selo
Jurica Jurčec 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 targets14 Jun 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages eat 153% of everything Dugo Selo 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 dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Karlo Lukman
“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.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Luka Šimunović has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dugo Selo 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 Jun 2027
Karlo Taslak 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 Dugo Selo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Jun 2027
Dorian Klarin is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dugo Selo has been clear about where Dorian Klarin stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mark Isong: “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 Dugo Selo will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Dugo Selo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dugo Selo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Borna Pausić, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 May 2027
Amar Zahirović has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dugo Selo 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 dugout24 May 2027
Carlo Mateković 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.
Market24 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dugo Selo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Jurica Jurčec and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The dugout10 May 2027
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 Matija Subotić is on it.
Boardroom10 May 2027
The numbers do not look good at Dugo Selo
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.
The dugout10 May 2027
Vicko Ožegović 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 Dugo Selo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Dugo Selo
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Dugo Selo is running low.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Dugo Selo
Jurica Jurčec 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
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dugo Selo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vedran Dalić, and the manager let it.
Market1 Mar 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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 dugout1 Mar 2027
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.” Fran Corluka chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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
Upbeat
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Fran Corluka has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Osijek have kept their man, and Dugo Selo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Carlo Mateković, and the manager let it.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jurica Jurčec. 1‑0 against Segesta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Karlo Lukman 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 7.61. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fran Corluka on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager's exit leaves Dražen Pilčić exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Dražen Pilčić is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 7.93 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 18 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slaven Belupo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Jurica Jurčec and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Osijek have kept their man, and Dugo Selo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Amar Zahirović 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Kustosija, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Antonio Radonić damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Dugo Selo do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Dugo Selo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nikola Boric 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karlo Taslak, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
24 new faces, and Dugo Selo 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.68 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Dugo Selo had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Amar Zahirović has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dugo Selo 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 Sep 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.” Fran Corluka chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.