Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Pobi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Tiijan Zorko again, and this time the name on the line is Kustosija. ND Gorica are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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; ND Gorica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rob Rudonja has his answer from ND Gorica; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luka Baruca
Nejc Viher 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 Rob Rudonja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at ND Gorica can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nejc Viher trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
$140.0K settles it between the clubs for Filip Oblak
NK Domzale have accepted the money. What ND Gorica do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
Mura paid $230.0K and ND Gorica took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at ND Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Videnović 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.
ND Gorica asked and Slovan Ljubljana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
10 combined actions and 6.91. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Andrija Drljo.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luka Štor provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for 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 ND Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at ND Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Štor 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kristjan Laščak 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“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; ND Gorica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Luka Štor
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 7.88 for the rest of 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 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 Denis Videnović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 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.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
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.” Domen Skubic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAndrija Drljo knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ND Gorica will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Andrija Drljo 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at ND Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Žan-Luk Leban 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.
“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; ND Gorica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout9 Oct 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 0‑1 Domen Skubic left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
In brief
The dugoutFilip Pobi asks for a word with the manager
ND Gorica asked and Koper said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at ND Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Žan-Luk Leban 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. ND Gorica know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
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.
5 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.
A mark of 8.16 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 ND Gorica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
ND Gorica close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Damian Tront is living that version at ND Gorica, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nejc Pušnik 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Radomlje have kept their man, and ND Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
ND Gorica offered $69.0K; Koper said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Luka Štor 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 ratings31 Jul 2028
Nik Fortuna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“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; ND Gorica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ND Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ND Gorica they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nejc Pušnik 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.
Mattia Chiesa 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 Luka Štor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 ND Gorica, and 13 appearances in 43 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Luigi Caccavo is on it.
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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Luka Štor 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 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 ND Gorica know it.
“I watch every ND Gorica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bistrica runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ND Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a 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 ND Gorica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Štor will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ND Gorica the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at ND Gorica 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Luka Štor has agreed terms with Olimpija Ljubljana for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nejc Pušnik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 10 and 11 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 ND Gorica, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Karlo Tomašec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 ND Gorica, and 5 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Position 10 and 7 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.
Andrija Drljo 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Luka Štor 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 watch every ND Gorica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bistrica runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ND Gorica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 10 and 3 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at ND Gorica can tell you which week it ends in.
Andrija Drljo 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at ND Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Štor 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.
Žan Baskera had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Beltinci were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bistrica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Luka Sočič and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Črt Rotar 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Petar Kurtovic 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.
Position 10 and 2 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.
“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 ND Gorica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Žan Jevšenak 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
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.