Marked for Šimun Šintić
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Nov 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 Nov 2029
The wait goes on for NK Krsko
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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Niki Radovič and NK Krsko agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Niki Radovič 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 NK Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Nov 2029
NK Krka left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Jure Zupan runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Nov 2029
The manager makes an example of Šimun Šintić
“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 terraces5 Nov 2029
Everybody has an opinion about Jure Ribič
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Oct 2029
Jakob Zbašnik hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Oct 2029
The wait goes on for NK Krsko
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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Niki Radovič 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.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Marked 8.40 — 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emin Jafarov, and the manager let it.
Match27 Oct 2029
A 3‑3 draw with NK Zavrc leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad29 Oct 2029
No place for Šimun Šintić on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at NK Krsko pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Fran Penezić asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Oct 2029
NK Krsko sink to position 8
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Jure Zupan 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.
Match20 Oct 2029
A bad afternoon for NK Krsko against Koper
0‑2 to Koper, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Jure Ribič
“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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Jure Ribič knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Oct 2029
Ledion Bendo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Oct 2029
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jure Ribič and NK Krsko agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Niki Radovič 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 NK Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Oct 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Marked 8.01 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Sep 2029
Grega Ovijač hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Sep 2029
72 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Niki Radovič 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 NK Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Sep 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Jure Ribič 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arnas Dubickas and NK Krsko agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
The one thing Fran Penezić could not do
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Marked 5.63, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 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.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad3 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
A performance of 9.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match1 Sep 2029
NK Krka made NK Krsko work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
The medical room confirms 50 days on the sidelines for Martin Plavec Marković, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad3 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Šimun Šintić
“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
Crisis
The terraces30 Jul 2029
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market30 Jul 2029
“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 NK Krsko, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market30 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Jinřich Musil
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jinřich Musil will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Krsko the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Jure Ribič 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.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Jul 2029
ND Gorica left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Yurin, and the manager let it.
The terraces30 Jul 2029
Everybody has an opinion about Jure Ribič
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A mark of 5.65 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Apr 2029
“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 NK Krsko, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Niki Radovič 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 NK Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arnas Dubickas commits to NK Krsko for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Nov 2028
0‑3 to NK Krka, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market6 Nov 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.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Niki Radovič 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Jan Župančič 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.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
Nobody left the NK Krsko 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“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; NK Krsko are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market6 Nov 2028
Sven Opačić linked with a move away
The name of Sven Opačić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. NK Krsko say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Niki Radovič 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 NK Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Marked 9.48 — 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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Oct 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jan Župančič. 1‑0 against NK Zavrc, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad30 Oct 2028
“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 NK Krsko know it.
Squad30 Oct 2028
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at NK Krsko pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Oct 2028
No end in sight to NK Krsko's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at NK Krsko has to find a result from somewhere.
Market16 Oct 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.
Market16 Oct 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomaž Zakrajšek will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Krsko the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Jure Ribič 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.
Match14 Oct 2028
Rudar Velenje left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“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; NK Krsko are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad16 Oct 2028
40 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Oct 2028
15 matches without a win for NK Krsko
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around NK Krsko are no longer polite ones.
Market9 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” NK Krsko may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Brando Castillo commits to NK Krsko for another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Jure Ribič 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 NK Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Nobody could get near Jure Zupan
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Oct 2028
It needed Nik Pirc to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against NK Domzale, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market9 Oct 2028
Sven Opačić linked with a move away
The name of Sven Opačić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. NK Krsko say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Sep 2028
No end in sight to NK Krsko's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at NK Krsko has to find a result from somewhere.
Market18 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Sep 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Krsko they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Niki Radovič 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 NK Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Sep 2028
1‑2 to NK Celje, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Marked 9.01 — 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fran Penezić, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
The medical room confirms 68 days on the sidelines for Víðir Þorvarðarson, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Nobody could get near Jure Zupan
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.