Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Uroš Filipović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ušće the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Kljajić 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $12.6M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ušće, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ušće this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Ušće are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđe Kukolj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ušće, another week without a signature from Dimitrije Novićević.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Petar Đuričković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ušće know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ušće could ask drops and the wages Dimitrije Novićević can ask rise.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ušće. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ušće they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Petar Đuričković 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 Đorđe Kukolj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ušće, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Uroš Filipović’s negotiating for him
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ušće this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Đorđe Kukolj 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ušće, another week without a signature from Dimitrije Novićević.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hodei Barbarín trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ušće know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ušće could ask drops and the wages Dimitrije Novićević can ask rise.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ušće would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
Stefan Nikolić 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.
Ušće asked and Crvena Zvezda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Đorđe Kukolj 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.
Marked 6.78 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Ušće, and it is not being withdrawn.
Stefan Nikolić 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.
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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Đorđe Kukolj 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.
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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
In brief
Player ratingsHodei Barbarín did the work nobody counts — 7.23
“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 Ušće, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.78, 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.
The deal with Partizan 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.
Petar Đuričković 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 Đorđe Kukolj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Three points for Ušće, 2‑1 the final word against Dinamo Vranje in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Raymond Berger, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Pedro Henrique
7.93, 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.
Stefan Nikolić 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Đorđe Kukolj 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Smederevo 1924 had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ušće told Luka Kljajić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutMalthe Hansen asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ušće this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđe Kukolj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Pedro Henrique's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Uroš Filipović’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ušće needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A side in position 15 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Kukolj 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 watch every Ušće game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jedinstvo Ub runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Position 12, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ušće lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ušće will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ušće can pretend not to have heard.
Ušće had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Partizan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Petar Đuričković 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 Đorđe Kukolj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ušće can pretend not to have heard.
Petar Đuričković 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.
Ušće asked and Radnicki 1923 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Đorđe Kukolj 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.
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.
A loan enquiry to Radnik Surdulica: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ušće, another week without a signature from Josh Kelly.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ušće will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ušće this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ušće asked and Radnik Surdulica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Đorđe Kukolj 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ušće, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ušće will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ušće lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Ušće, and it is not being withdrawn.
Petar Đuričković 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.
Ušće asked and Radnicki 1923 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Kukolj 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.
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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ušće lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nemanja Vidojević 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 Đorđe Kukolj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ušće, and both men came out saying it was fine.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ušće lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nemanja Vidojević 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.
14 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Uroš Filipović 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ušće know it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ušće, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Petar Đuričković 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 had been thinking. Đorđe Kukolj 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nemanja Trifunović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ušće. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Nemanja Vidić’s negotiating for him
SquadWisdom Essien is the talk of the training ground
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ušće have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Petar Đuričković 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ušće can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitrije Novićević 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ušće, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nemanja Trifunović has written the date down.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ušće could ask drops and the wages Josh Kelly can ask rise.
0‑3 to Jedinstvo Ub, 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.
Petar Đuričković 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 had been thinking. Đorđe Kukolj 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 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.
Something was said to Hodei Barbarín and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Ušće close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ušće know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđe Kukolj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Uroš Filipović 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.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ušće can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Đorđe Kukolj 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Markus Schmitt after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Petar Đuričković 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.
Day 14 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Kukolj 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mladost Lucani in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dimitrije Novićević signs something — a contract at Ušće or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ušće has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ušće lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ušće can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ušće lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Novi Pazar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ušće have done the hard part with Radnik Surdulica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OFK Beograd have kept their man, and Ušće go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Kukolj 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.
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.