“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 The request is on a desk at Istra 1961, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dante Stipica 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Istra 1961 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silvio Goričan 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Istra 1961 can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istra 1961 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Istra 1961 would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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.
Vinko Rozić 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 Silvio Goričan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Silvio Goričan signs something — a contract at Istra 1961 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Montevideo City Torque keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Dante Stipica 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
7 new faces, and Istra 1961 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.
“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 Istra 1961, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Celija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vinko Rozić signs something — a contract at Istra 1961 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutDanijel Đurić has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Istra 1961 can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Istra 1961 have done the hard part with Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Istra 1961 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Persik, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Vinko Rozić 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Istra 1961 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silvio Goričan 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.
Istra 1961 asked and Montevideo City Torque said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Istra 1961 know it.
A loan enquiry to Montevideo City Torque: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The offer from Lucko for Ivan Šaranić 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istra 1961 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 Silvio Goričan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Istra 1961 asked and Slaven Belupo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Istra 1961 dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Tomislav Petkovic to a room that had heard them before.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Istra 1961 have had the benefit of it.
Advan Kadušić 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: HNK Rijeka will make the call about Raul Kumar this week. Istra 1961 have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Dinamo Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
A loan enquiry to Lokomotiva Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Šaranić, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Istra 1961 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominik Celija 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.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Istra 1961 enter the window
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istra 1961 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istra 1961 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 Dominik Celija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Istra 1961 are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 Istra 1961, and it is not being withdrawn.
Vinko Rozić 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Solomon Obed has, at Istra 1961, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Silvio Goričan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Robbe Quirynen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Istra 1961 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rene Hrvatin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chinedu Onyinjekwu did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The offer from Nairobi United for Don-Pedro Samuel 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.
“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 Bayelsa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bayelsa United have done the hard part with Bendel Insurance, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Gabriel Biriduba 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 name of Akpos Godbless has come up in conversations Bayelsa United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Solomon Wegba and Bayelsa United agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Nupe Godstime 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.