Marked for Dario Jakovac
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match22 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Dubrava's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Dubrava has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Luka Pasariček 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A move Dario Jakovac 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. Dario Jakovac is living that version at Dubrava, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match22 Sep 2029
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Dubrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tin Ljubanović 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 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Lovro Stanić
“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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fran Simunovic after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Feb 2029
Bruno Bogojević damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Market12 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market12 Feb 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Patrik Mijić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Feb 2029
The shirt still fits. Zvonimir Josić is back at HNK Gorica, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A move Zvonimir Josić 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. Zvonimir Josić is living that version at HNK Gorica, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A row about effort at HNK Gorica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jurica Pršir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Ivica Boric has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at HNK Gorica can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market3 Jul 2028
The offer from Koper for Davor Matijaš was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
$540.0K settles it between the clubs for Marko Batur
Lokomotiva Zagreb have accepted the money. What HNK Gorica do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
The deal with HNK Rijeka 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.
Market3 Jul 2028
The fee is $260.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Istra 1961 drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
HNK Gorica offered $23.0K; Croatia Zmijavci said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Jurica Pršir 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.