Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sibenik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 9.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 The request is on a desk at Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything agreed with HNK Rijeka, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Toni Španja 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sibenik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Everything agreed with HNK Rijeka, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Marko Mikulić 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.
In brief
SquadDaniel Grbic falls out with a teammate over standards
23 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Sibenik and HNK Gorica have settled on $83.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sibenik have done the hard part with Segesta, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sibenik asked and HNK Rijeka 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 phone has started ringing about Stipe Pjaca again, and this time the name on the line is Imotski. Sibenik are listening politely and promising nothing.
The run now stands at 22, and the questions being asked around Sibenik are no longer polite ones.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
The mood at Sibenik has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sibenik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with HNK Rijeka; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Everything agreed with Lokomotiva Zagreb, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Toni Španja 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 Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sibenik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sibenik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sibenik people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Sibenik had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Toni Španja 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Grbic 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Sibenik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tomislav Budimir is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sime Orsic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dario Kovacevic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Sibenik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Toni Španja 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 Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sibenik have made the call to Dinamo Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Position 9 and 6 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sibenik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Toni Španja 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Sibenik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matej Jukić 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. Sibenik know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sibenik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sibenik have done the hard part with HNK Rijeka, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matej Jukić and Sibenik agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Grbic 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.
Sibenik 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.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Mikulić knocks on the manager’s door
“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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Dugopolje 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stipe Pjaca will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sibenik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Grbic 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hrvatski Dragovoljac waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sibenik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Istra 1961 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.
Toni Španja 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Daniel Grbic 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.
Sibenik asked and Slaven Belupo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sibenik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Toni Španja 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.
In brief
SquadDaniel Grbic falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Daniel Grbic 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Matej Jukić 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.
Nobody at Sibenik 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Josip Baturina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sibenik. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sibenik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 9 and 6 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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Toni Španja 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 Matej Jukić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikša Čulina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Daniel Grbic 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Toni Španja
The dugoutMarko Mikulić asks for a word with the manager
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sibenik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Daniel Grbic 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Matej Jukić 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.
“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; Sibenik are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Toni Španja 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 Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Sibenik 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sibenik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sibenik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Toni Španja 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Daniel Grbic 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sibenik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Toni Španja 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 Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Sibenik 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sibenik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Franko Knez are not good
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Sibenik will try again when the window opens; Zadar may not be selling by then.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Grbic 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bruno Juranovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Maro Mrndže 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 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 Sibenik will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sibenik would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Stipe Pjaca is still in the building
Position 9 and 6 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with HNK Vukovar 1991; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
Toni Španja 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 Jan 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matej Jukić 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Lokomotiva Zagreb; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sibenik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Grbic 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.
In brief
The dugoutNikša Čulina asks for a word with the manager
SquadThe training reports on Marco Russo are not good
HNK Rijeka have accepted the money. What Sibenik do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sibenik asked and Lokomotiva Zagreb 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 Jan 2027
Daniel Grbic 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Vedran Grbic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
The dugoutNikša Čulina asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sibenik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Toni Španja 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Grbic 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadJosip Baturina falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutJosip Baturina asks for a word with the manager
Toni Španja 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Daniel Grbic 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.
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Dakup Tongshinen is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sibenik are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Imširović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sibenik. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Josip Baturina’s negotiating for him
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Nikša Čulina
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
Toni Španja 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 Nov 2026
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matej Jukić 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.
Nobody at Sibenik 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikša Čulina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sibenik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sibenik would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hrvoje Corluka 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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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 Sibenik 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 Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Konstantinos Siontis has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Konstantinos Siontis and Sibenik agree another 4 years.
Out, 0‑1 to Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Daniel Grbic 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 Matej Jukić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Squad7 new faces, and Sibenik are still learning each other
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sibenik can tell you which week it ends in.
Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Daniel Grbic 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikša Čulina, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 0‑2 Sime Livaja left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
Toni Španja 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 Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 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.
The dugout5 Oct 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Sime Livaja to a room that had heard them before.
1‑4 against Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sime Livaja after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Baturina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hrvatski Dragovoljac in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Successful dribbles: 10. 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.
“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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Grbic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Robert Pasalic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Niko Kramaric is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Niko Ljubić 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.
Sibenik and Segesta have settled on $380.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $427.1K — a club that wants Nikša Čulina enough to be asked twice.
Sibenik have gone to Lokomotiva Zagreb 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Daniel Grbic was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $800.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Grbic 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Imotski go through and Zadar go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Daniel Grbic was one of the reasons people came, and $800.0K does not replace that by itself.
“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 Zadar, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Hajduk Split 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hajduk Split is saying, and nobody at Zadar is enjoying the guessing.
$510.0K 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.
Zadar had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at NK Varazdin, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Domagoj Antolić 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.
Ivan Zaverukha was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $110.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.