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.
Tomislav Grdenić 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 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.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Radnik Krizevci would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Radnik Krizevci can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Robert Janjiš 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 Daouda Doumbia 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Radnik Krizevci will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 David Petek is on it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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 Krizevci 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 Tomislav Grdenić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Radnik Krizevci 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Radnik Krizevci, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Robert Janjiš 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Radnik Krizevci can tell you which week it ends in.
Radnik Krizevci asked and Katsina United 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomislav Grdenić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Darijo Kasalo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
5 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Radnik Krizevci is running low.
Everything agreed with Dugo Selo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Radnik Krizevci asked and NK Krsko 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. Tomislav Grdenić 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.
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 Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Darijo Kasalo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daouda Doumbia 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 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.
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 Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Fran Petković decided nobody was going anywhere. Croatia Zmijavci had no time left to answer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnik Krizevci can pretend not to have heard.
Robert Janjiš 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. Daouda Doumbia 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.
Radnik Krizevci asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A 1‑0 win over Croatia Zmijavci, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daouda Doumbia 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.
Nobody at Radnik Krizevci 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrija Kupsjak, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Darijo Kasalo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Radnik Krizevci dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Radnik Krizevci can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daouda Doumbia 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 is 21 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.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Nikolay Zabolotny has come out of that comparison in the side, and Radnik Krizevci have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Radnik Krizevci is running low.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Mladost Zdralovi will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnik Krizevci can pretend not to have heard.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
1 for Oliver Sumić, marked 7.86, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daouda Doumbia 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oliver Sumić. 2‑1 against Mladost Zdralovi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 22 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Teo Žiković did not need any: 7.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomislav Grdenić 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Teo Žiković. 1‑0 against Lucko, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Darijo Kasalo has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Robert Janjiš 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. Daouda Doumbia 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 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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Ivan Verhas
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Robert Janjiš 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. Daouda Doumbia 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.
Radnik Krizevci asked and HNK Vukovar 1991 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marin Budimir 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Solin had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
10 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.
Robert Janjiš 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.
Radnik Krizevci asked and Cracovia 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. Tomislav Grdenić 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.
Radnik Krizevci have made the call to HNK Rijeka. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 Radnik Krizevci will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HNK Gorica is saying, and nobody at Radnik Krizevci is enjoying the guessing.
$380.0K on the table at NK Varazdin. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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 Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolay Zabolotny 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.
Radnik Krizevci have made the call to Istra 1961. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tin Zavalić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Radnik Krizevci can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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 Krizevci 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 Nikolay Zabolotny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Petek and Radnik Krizevci agree another 4 years.
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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Nikolay Zabolotny was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnik Krizevci will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Robert Janjiš 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 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 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 David Petek is on it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patrik Marić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Radnik Krizevci would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnik Krizevci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Robert Janjiš 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 Tomislav Grdenić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 David Petek is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnik Krizevci will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Radnik Krizevci had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at HNK Rijeka, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnik Krizevci will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Patrik Marić, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jay Kuiper 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.
Minute 86, against Solin, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnik Krizevci will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Osijek have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Robert Janjiš 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. Nikolay Zabolotny 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Gorica have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Radnik Krizevci has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
Teo Barišić 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Patrik Marić'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 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 David Petek is on it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.95 for the rest of it.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolay Zabolotny 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrija Kupsjak and Radnik Krizevci agree another 4 years.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Nikola Macolić 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
The dugout30 Nov 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.” Darijo Kasalo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Patrik Marić is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Teo Barišić 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrija Kupsjak, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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 0‑2 Darijo Kasalo left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Radnik Krizevci told Benedikt Koštan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marin Budimir signs something — a contract at Radnik Krizevci or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ivan Barišić did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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 Krizevci 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 Nikolay Zabolotny 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Barišić 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.
Marked 7.62 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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 Radnik Krizevci know it.
Nikola Macolić 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 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Radnik Krizevci who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Minute 91, against Uljanik Pula, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ivan Barišić did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ivan Barišić. 2‑0 against Trnje, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Darijo Kasalo, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
18 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Robert Janjiš is living that version at Radnik Krizevci, and it tends to show in the first month.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Tomislav Grdenić is a Radnik Krizevci player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
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 Krizevci 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 Nikolay Zabolotny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikola Juranovic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Niko Grbic 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Josip Tadic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlantas have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Barišić and Radnik Krizevci agree another 3 years.
Fabijan Šašek 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.
A loan enquiry to Olimpija Ljubljana: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Petek 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.