Marked for Daniel Tadic
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 May 2027
The view from the top for Zadar
36 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad17 May 2027
Marin Benko 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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Vedran Orsic 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 dugout17 May 2027
Daniel Tadic 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 dugout17 May 2027
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.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager comes out for Marin Benko
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Marin Benko has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Zadar
Marin Benko 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Orsic 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
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 Daniel Barisic is on it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Marko Tadic asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Daniel Tadic has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Daniel Tadic has written the date down.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Vedran Orsic keeps his manager's vote
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Vedran Orsic plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zadar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Turki Al-Shaifan 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Zadar
Marin Benko 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Zadar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Orsic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Robert Ćosić is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Robert Ćosić 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Daniel Tadic 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
The Marin Benko talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zadar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Zadar than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zadar. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jack McMillan and Zadar agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Zadar
Marin Benko 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 Mar 2027
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Orsic 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Zadar and Jack Armer are talking past each other
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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; Zadar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Daniel Tadic 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marin Benko 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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marko Brekalo 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zadar, another week without a signature from Jack McMillan.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Marko Tadic
“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.
Squad1 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 Zadar would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market1 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zadar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Dejan Pasalic 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 Zadar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Zadar
Marin Benko 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Zadar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Orsic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Daniel Barisic has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zadar 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Robert Ćosić has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Robert Ćosić has written the date down.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Niko Farkaš arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
Market15 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Josip Stanisic’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marin Benko had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Match25 Jan 2027
Nobody above Zadar
First, on 36 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market25 Jan 2027
Daniel Tadic hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zadar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Zadar
Marin Benko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Zadar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Orsic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jan 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Javor-Matis are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Zadar will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Nacional have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Zadar are still strangers to each other
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tin Stanisic breaks a bone — 125 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zadar people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zadar can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zadar have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zadar have done the hard part with Rudes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Zadar
Marin Benko 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Orsic 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“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; Zadar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market11 Jan 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Tin Stanisic: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zadar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Dec 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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Orsic 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Davyd Fesyuk
“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.
Market21 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marin Pasalic signs something — a contract at Zadar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout21 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 Daniel Barisic is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zadar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Marin Benko 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Albian Fassnacht for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Zadar will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniel Tadic
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Vedran Colak 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
22 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marin Benko 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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marin Benko. 1‑0 against Imotski, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad9 Nov 2026
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mato Petkov 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Marin Benko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Luka Ivanovic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.