Marked for David Đokić
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Damjan Đokanović 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mihailo Oreščanin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Janko Tumbasević has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mladost Lucani 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muritala Ibrahim, and the manager let it.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
28 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Irfan Hadžić has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
Market12 Apr 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mladost Lucani, another week without a signature from Muritala Ibrahim.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
25 starts and a season average of 6.51. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Filip Pajović, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damjan Đokanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
John Mary 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mladost Lucani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Mladost Lucani would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
The goals keep arriving from David Đokić’s exile
5 goals in 28 games at Jedinstvo Ub — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mladost Lucani updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
25 starts now, an average of 6.51, and the team sheet at Budafoki MTE has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
24 starts now, an average of 6.87, and the team sheet at Mačva Šabac has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Mladost Lucani will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2027
Uroš Ljubomirac damages knee ligaments — 159 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 159 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.
Match8 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Jedinstvo Ub
Position 14 and 27 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ismael Casas 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Luciano arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luciano has, at Jedinstvo Ub, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Dubočica left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aranđel Stojković, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead8 Feb 2027
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jedinstvo Ub can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 5 in, 1 out at Jedinstvo Ub
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ismael Casas 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 Jedinstvo Ub this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Jan 2027
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Borac Čačak. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Aranđel Stojković 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Jedinstvo Ub asked and Zbrojovka Brno 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 terraces1 Feb 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Uroš Ljubomirac will call it something else in private.
Squad1 Feb 2027
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Jedinstvo Ub know which stage they are at.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Robbie Brady 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 Jedinstvo Ub this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Ušće, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 128% of everything Jedinstvo Ub earn
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of David Đokić
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Branislav Radonjic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Danilo Golović dropped after a run of poor form
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 Marko Mladenović is on it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 7.76 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
He is 21 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uroš Ljubomirac, and the manager let it.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Đokić. 1‑0 against Smederevo 1924, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Branislav Radonjic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Market21 Dec 2026
No place for Khalid Butti in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Khalid Butti has his answer from Jedinstvo Ub; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Ušće next, and one man in the Jedinstvo Ub dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Robbie Brady 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Ivan Jovanović has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Jedinstvo Ub 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad23 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Jedinstvo Ub lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Match21 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Grafičar defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kabel in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Robbie Brady 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Jedinstvo Ub are still strangers to each other
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
No place for Friday Apollos in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Jedinstvo Ub are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Marko Mitrović is on it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Grafičar in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market16 Nov 2026
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Jedinstvo Ub have gone and got theirs early.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jedinstvo Ub. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody is after Robbie Brady’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Robbie Brady suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Jedinstvo Ub have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mladost Lucani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mihailo Oreščanin, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Feng Gang 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 Mladost Lucani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Janko Tumbasević is on it.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
Željko Samčović’s loan is measured in nothing happening
6 clean sheets from 13 appearances at Novi Pazar. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
12 appearances at Jedinstvo Ub and the goals keep coming. Mladost Lucani are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nikola Lakić knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mladost Lucani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Nov 2026
John Mary linked with a move away
The name of John Mary keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Mladost Lucani say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Oct 2026
Zeleznicar Pancevo are out and Jedinstvo Ub go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Marko Mladenović at 21 — 8.38
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marko Mladenović did not need any: 8.38, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over OFK Vršac, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uroš Ljubomirac, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
124% of the income goes out in wages at Jedinstvo Ub
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marko Mitrović ran the middle of the pitch — 7.97
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.97, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Jedinstvo Ub, and 6 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
David Đokić named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. David Đokić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Everybody at Mladost Lucani saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ognjen Laušević
“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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nemanja Petrović’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mladost Lucani needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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 Mladost Lucani will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market12 Oct 2026
The John Mary talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mladost Lucani know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Looking ahead: Partizan at home
A side in position 10 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
7 starts and an average of 6.51. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Marko Mladenović takes the afternoon — 8.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marko Mladenović provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Robbie Brady 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Jedinstvo Ub, 2‑1 the final word against Zemun in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
He is 21 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
David Đokić 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
This league is too small for Robbie Brady
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Jedinstvo Ub will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Jedinstvo Ub are still strangers to each other
18 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Branislav Radonjic, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at OFK Beograd is saying, and nobody at Jedinstvo Ub is enjoying the guessing.
Match12 Sep 2026
Voždovac left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Vukašin Topić deal
Jedinstvo Ub ran out of time with Vojvodina. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Branislav Radonjic to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Danilo Golović
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad14 Sep 2026
No place for Stefan Petrenj in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Jedinstvo Ub are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Uroš Ljubomirac
Nobody at Jedinstvo Ub is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Uroš Ljubomirac’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jedinstvo Ub needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Cukaricki; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Jedinstvo Ub have gone to OFK Beograd with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Jedinstvo Ub training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toplica Grbović 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Partizan have kept their man, and Jedinstvo Ub go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Filip Ivelja 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Tekstilac Odžaci, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.42 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Jedinstvo Ub had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Branislav Radonjic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Jedinstvo Ub
A 0‑3 beating by Mačva Šabac was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marko Mitrović and Jedinstvo Ub agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jedinstvo Ub this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Jedinstvo Ub dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Jedinstvo Ub have made the call to Vojvodina. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Mladost Lucani: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jedinstvo Ub, and both men came out saying it was fine.