Marked for Razvan Mitrita
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Oct 2028
The mood at Uskok 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.
Market16 Oct 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Uskok, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uskok this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Uskok training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihael Bužić 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.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
The Uskok debt reaches $9.2M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Uskok are still strangers to each other
8 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
Karlo Darojković has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Uskok 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
Karlo Darojković 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Jack Fanning
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Oct 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Hjalte Froholdt has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uskok is pretending otherwise.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Uskok
Lovro Gubijan 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 Uskok training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihael Bužić 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 dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Mihael Bužić
“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.
Match7 Oct 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
Uskok cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
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 Mislav Orsic left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
Vito Čilić gets picked when it counts
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 Vito Čilić is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Marin Kuzmanić 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. Marin Kuzmanić has, at Uskok, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Uskok
Lovro Gubijan 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 Sep 2028
Mihael Bužić 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Josip Tomašević
“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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“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 Uskok know it.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Uskok signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 18, and nobody at Uskok signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market11 Sep 2028
Stefan Lobotka is 18, and Uskok have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.