Marked for Matej Ivanovic
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 Apr 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Varteks
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad21 Apr 2031
A row about effort at Varteks
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juraj Balić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom21 Apr 2031
No signings allowed at Varteks
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Mar 2031
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Varteks lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Juraj Balić 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.
Boardroom31 Mar 2031
The Varteks debt reaches $9.4M
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.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
Jakub Suslov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jakub Suslov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 Mar 2031
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Varteks money.
Squad31 Mar 2031
The training reports on Jakub Suslov are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 Mar 2031
Pressure builds in the Varteks boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad24 Mar 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matej Ivanovic
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Varteks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Varteks
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petar Radalj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Mar 2031
Varteks 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 dugout24 Mar 2031
The manager makes an example of Zakaria Rasouli
“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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words exchanged at Varteks
Harvey Lawson 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 Mar 2031
The mood at Varteks 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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Varteks lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Petar Radalj 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. Petar Radalj has, at Varteks, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Petar Radalj 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 Varteks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juraj Balić 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 dugout17 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivann Strohbach, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Varteks, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market17 Mar 2031
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Varteks could get for him.