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 Varteks can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Rodrigues 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Varteks can pretend not to have heard.
Antonio Klarić-Kukuz 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza Martinović 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried 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 Varteks, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Răzvan Barstan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Răzvan Barstan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Varteks would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“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 Varteks, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Varteks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer went to Karlovac 1919 this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$15.0K was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Zagreb 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.
Varteks asked and BSK Bijelo Brdo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Djakovo Croatia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
A 1‑0 win over Djakovo Croatia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Varteks can pretend not to have heard.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sime Tadic 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.
Lokomotiva Zagreb 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.
Piotr Holcel 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mihael Bodetić, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Rodrigues 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Antonio Klarić-Kukuz 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.
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Rodrigues 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $10.0M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“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.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Marin Srna chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
3‑0, and Caio Cruz took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Varteks tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Leon Geci, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.69 beside his name.
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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Sime Tadic 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marin Srna on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Varteks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ianis Vencu 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Rodrigues 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Varteks can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Antonio Klarić-Kukuz 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.
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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sime Tadic 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.
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.
Antonio Klarić-Kukuz 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sime Tadic 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.
9 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.
Antonio Klarić-Kukuz 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.
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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Rodrigues 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Mladost Zdralovi? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Varteks can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Rodrigues 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Uskok scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
José Roxo 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Caio Cruz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 new man at Varteks has worked with Mihael Bodetić before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sime Tadic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Daniel Vereguţ has his answer from Varteks; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
7 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Varteks have done the hard part with Dinamo Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: NK Osijek keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Karlovac 1919 have kept their man, and Varteks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Rodrigues 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.
Everything agreed with Kustosija, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Varteks is enjoying the guessing.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Caio Cruz 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grobnican have kept their man, and Varteks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Idris Guda 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.
Position 16 and 24 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 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Varteks told Jackson Izquierdo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Rodrigues 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.
İbrahim Ramazanov 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lukas Buić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Marius Poncel has moved up it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Varteks can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernardo Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mihael Bodetić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Patryk Marek has his answer from Varteks; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Varteks the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
21 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hajduk Split is saying, and nobody at Varteks is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Varteks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Varteks can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Marin Srna chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
19 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.
The deal with Solin 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Gorica have kept their man, and Varteks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Varteks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Rodrigues 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
18 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.
0‑3 against Jarun Zagreb, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Varteks had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Karlovac 1919, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dugo Selo have kept their man, and Varteks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
17 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Varteks can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Karlovac 1919, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Varteks is enjoying the guessing.
4 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.
Piotr Holcel 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hrvace can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hrvace this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Hrvace know it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Hrvace training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hrvoje Crnčec 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.
Hrvace asked and HNK Gorica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout7 Aug 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 0‑2 the manager left the room before anybody could ask which.