The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ND Gorica is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ND Gorica 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 Rene Prodanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luka Dakić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Roger Andretty is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Prosper Obiora Nwachukwu’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and ND Gorica needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Martin Magister obliged against NK Domzale. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is ND Gorica.
Nathan Monzango 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. ND Gorica will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rene Prodanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ND Gorica can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Prosper Obiora Nwachukwu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody at ND Gorica 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Aluminij in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at ND Gorica has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miha Žejen signs something — a contract at ND Gorica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at ND Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rene Prodanović 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. ND Gorica told Murat Bajraj something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ND Gorica have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Primorje; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with Dravinja 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and ND Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$200.0K on the table at Radomlje. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Nathan Monzango 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. David Vitamvas has just signed for ND Gorica, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ND Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
ND Gorica asked and Primorje said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Jaša Maričić 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.
Dmytro Shastal arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Čavara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ilirija 1911 is running low.
Ilirija 1911 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mura, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpija Ljubljana have kept their man, and Ilirija 1911 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Vitamvas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 135% of everything Ilirija 1911 earn
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Enej Kramberger 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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Ilirija 1911 asked and Rudar Velenje 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 David Vitamvas 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Timon Näpfer 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.
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.
Enej Kramberger 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 David Vitamvas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Nikin, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
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 Filip Handanovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Vitamvas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilirija 1911 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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 Ilirija 1911 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.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Ilirija 1911 had all but put away. Dravinja will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 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 Ilirija 1911 can pretend not to have heard.
5 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.
Enej Kramberger 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Ilirija 1911 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nik Rauter 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ilirija 1911 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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.” Filip Handanovic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ilirija 1911, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Ilirija 1911 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Vitamvas 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.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
211% of the income goes out in wages at Ilirija 1911
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilirija 1911 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 Nik Rauter was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Oct 2028
7 new faces, and Ilirija 1911 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilirija 1911 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Ilirija 1911 know it.
Enej Kramberger 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Ilirija 1911 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nik Rauter 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilirija 1911 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Ilirija 1911, and it is not being withdrawn.
Enej Kramberger 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 David Vitamvas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ilirija 1911, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Agustín Urrutia signs something — a contract at Ilirija 1911 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ilirija 1911, another week without a signature from Sajmir Dumani.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Agan Sulimani was at the centre of it, Tabor Sežana were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
“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 Ilirija 1911, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Andrei Fadei has, at Ilirija 1911, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilirija 1911 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Ilirija 1911 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nik Rauter 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Vitamvas provided it, and the 7.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Enej Kramberger 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.
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.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Stephen Murray is 18, and Ilirija 1911 have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Ilirija 1911 are still learning each other
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilirija 1911 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Enej Kramberger 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 Timon Näpfer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ilirija 1911 has been clear about where David Vitamvas stands, which is more than many ever get.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Ilirija 1911 know which stage they are at.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilirija 1911 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 Ilirija 1911 can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tian Pantelić has, at Ilirija 1911, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilirija 1911 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ilirija 1911 asked and NK Maribor 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 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Ilirija 1911 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nik Rauter 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.
Anton Robinson is 20, and Ilirija 1911 have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
He is 19, and nobody at Ilirija 1911 signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“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 Ilirija 1911, and it is not being withdrawn.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Slovan Ljubljana had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Ilirija 1911 did not stop to explain themselves.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Agustín Urrutia provided it, and the 8.71 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ilirija 1911 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilirija 1911 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not rotation. Robi Gajšek has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Ilirija 1911 is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Anel Zulić 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ilirija 1911 can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ilirija 1911 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anel Zulić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ilirija 1911 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ilirija 1911 can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilirija 1911 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Ilirija 1911 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Timon Näpfer 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
“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 Ilirija 1911, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Vitamvas 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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anel Zulić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bilje have kept their man, and Ilirija 1911 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ilirija 1911 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Timon Näpfer 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Ilirija 1911 will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Anel Zulić 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.
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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ilirija 1911 will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilirija 1911 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 Anel Zulić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
8 new faces, and Ilirija 1911 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 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.
“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; Ilirija 1911 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Timon Näpfer 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tymur Nianchur is living that version at Ilirija 1911, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Anel Zulić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Beltinci have kept their man, and Ilirija 1911 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
132% of the income goes out in wages at Ilirija 1911
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Blaž Drašček trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ilirija 1911 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ilirija 1911 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal with Rudar Velenje 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mura have kept their man, and Ilirija 1911 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ilirija 1911 is running low.
Bradley M'Bondo 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 May 2028
Words at Ilirija 1911 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matjaž Veber 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ilirija 1911, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ilirija 1911 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ilirija 1911. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Sandi Nuhanović 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 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 Nejc Dermastija is on it.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Agustín Urrutia was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ilirija 1911 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“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 Ilirija 1911 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ilirija 1911 is running low.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 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 Ilirija 1911 can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ilirija 1911 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ilirija 1911 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nejc Dermastija 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 Matjaž Veber 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 Ilirija 1911, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ilirija 1911 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ilirija 1911 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timon Näpfer signs something — a contract at Ilirija 1911 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ilirija 1911 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matjaž Veber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ilirija 1911 will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.