The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dubrava had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Dubrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Matić 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.
Amet Korça 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.
25 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Dubrava now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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 Josh Kelly is on it.
33 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stjepan Davidović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Dubrava will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hrvatski Dragovoljac lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jens Jenniskens 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.
Shettima Ibrahim 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 Stjepan Davidović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dubrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Luka Pasariček is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amet Korça trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Dubrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stjepan Davidović 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.
Amet Korça 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.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
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 Josh Kelly is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dubrava, another week without a signature from Josh Kelly.
Position 4 on 33 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dubrava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jens Jenniskens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hrvatski Dragovoljac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Hrvatski Dragovoljac are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stjepan Davidović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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 Amet Korça is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dubrava has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Pavle Smiljanić is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Ibáñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac know it.
David Puclin 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.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Hrvatski Dragovoljac now know that too.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jens Jenniskens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernardo Matić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Amet Korça 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 Amet Korça is on it.
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 Dubrava would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Dubrava. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dubrava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kristijan Kramaric after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Radnik Krizevci in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Shettima Ibrahim 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.
He is 17 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Kristijan Kramaric could afford to be generous.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Pavle Smiljanić 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Cadu has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, another week without a signature from Tom Hill.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Bjelovar defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Marko Batur could not do
Bo Geens 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 Nov 2026
Words at Dubrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Matić 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 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.
Karlovac 1919 next, and one man in the Dubrava dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hrvatski Dragovoljac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isaiah Ngbede 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.
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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hrvatski Dragovoljac may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac can tell you which week it ends in.
Shettima Ibrahim 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.
“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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac know it.
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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.50 on the card, and the Hrvatski Dragovoljac support went home talking about one name.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Kristijan Kramaric chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Tom Hill
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac can tell you which week it ends in.
Something was said to Pavle Smiljanić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dubrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Dubrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boško Jemo 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.
Something was said to Raúl Torrente and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Dubrava are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Pasariček signs something — a contract at Dubrava or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Niek Vossebelt and Hrvatski Dragovoljac agree another 2 years.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Lukas Zubović is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kristijan Kramaric after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hrvatski Dragovoljac will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tom Hill 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.
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Kristijan Kramaric chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Hrvatski Dragovoljac until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hrvatski Dragovoljac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$21.0K was the most the club would pay and Slaven Belupo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac asked and Istra 1961 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Hrvatski Dragovoljac were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Filip Šušković-Jakopac has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $20.7K — a club that wants Adrian Sović enough to be asked twice.
$20.0K on the table at Slaven Belupo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hrvatski Dragovoljac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to Istra 1961. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 Dubrava, and it is not being withdrawn.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.90 for the rest of it.
Bo Geens 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ante Matić 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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $20.7K — a club that wants Niko Jemin enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Istra 1961 keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Kustosija this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Giovanni Jerolimov 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.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac asked and Sesvete said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.