Marked for Ivan Levun
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jadran Luka Ploce is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Marin Stanić 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Mate Pavlović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
108% of the income goes out in wages at Jadran Luka Ploce
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.
Loan watch19 Mar 2029
“I watch every Jadran Luka Ploce game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Opatija runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Ante Žužul gets picked when it counts
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 Ante Žužul is on it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Marius Ursu gets it from the manager
“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.
Market19 Mar 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Robert Mišković signs something — a contract at Jadran Luka Ploce or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market19 Mar 2029
The clock does Noel Bilić’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Jadran Luka Ploce could ask drops and the wages Noel Bilić can ask rise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Oct 2028
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Labros Zacharos: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jadran Luka Ploce have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Oct 2028
Josip Tadic has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jadran Luka Ploce they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Robert Mišković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Robert Janjiš 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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Ninety minutes of Noel Bilić at his very best
Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Jadran Luka Ploce.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
111% of the income goes out in wages at Jadran Luka Ploce
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 dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Ivan Levun
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Oct 2028
“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 Jadran Luka Ploce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jadran Luka Ploce is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Robert Mišković 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Jadran Luka Ploce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Stanić 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Sanotskyi and Jadran Luka Ploce agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Leon Jadek
“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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
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.
Market16 Oct 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jadran Luka Ploce, another week without a signature from Ivan Levun.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ante Žužul’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jadran Luka Ploce needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Oct 2028
“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 Jadran Luka Ploce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Oct 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 Jadran Luka Ploce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Jadran Luka Ploce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Janjiš 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.
Match7 Oct 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Marin 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jadran Luka Ploce can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Ivica Cop to a room that had heard them before.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
Nobody arrives at Jadran Luka Ploce until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Jadran Luka Ploce this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jun 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jadran Luka Ploce is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Istra 1961 is saying, and nobody at Jadran Luka Ploce is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Robert Mišković 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Marius Ursu gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marius Ursu has just signed for Jadran Luka Ploce, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Robert Janjiš 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.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
A loan move for Branko Pavić is in the works
Jadran Luka Ploce 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.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Marin Stanić gets picked when it counts
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 Marin Stanić is on it.
Market26 Jun 2028
Zhora Dadamyan is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jadran Luka Ploce has been clear about where Zhora Dadamyan stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jun 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Jadran Luka Ploce have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market19 Jun 2028
Antonio Marić has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jadran Luka Ploce they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Jun 2028
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Robert Mišković, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The deal with HNK Gorica 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.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Antonio Marić has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Robert Mišković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Jadran Luka Ploce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Stanić 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Sergey Oliynyk is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jadran Luka Ploce has been clear about where Sergey Oliynyk stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jun 2028
$430.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Market12 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Uskok waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jadran Luka Ploce is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Supporters turn on the $430.0K sale of Nikola Krajinović
He is going to Orijent 1919, the club has $430.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market12 Jun 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The paperwork begins on Leo Lončar
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jadran Luka Ploce have done the hard part with Rudes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Noel Bilić 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Marin Stanić 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.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Thomas Cristallini has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Jadran Luka Ploce have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
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.