Ivan Benko

Striker - Free Agent
9 Dec 2040
Sunday
Process

Marked for Ivan Benko

737 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

10 Sep 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Hrvoje Benko

17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Endi Vinogradac keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” HNK Vukovar 1991 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Match

The wait goes on for HNK Vukovar 1991

4 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.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Vukovar 1991

Louis Buffon 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.

Squad

Fernando Silva 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for HNK Vukovar 1991 against Lucko

0‑2 to Lucko, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Louis Buffon

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The terraces

The spotlight tightens on Antonio Đaković

Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.

Market

The Louis Buffon talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Vukovar 1991 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

Back issues
736 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

3 Sep 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Hrvoje Benko

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at HNK Vukovar 1991

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

Antonio Đaković keeps HNK Vukovar 1991 in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Fernando Silva has been here 14 seasons

226 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Player ratings

Jakov Gurlica, 36, rolls back the years — 7.83

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Ivan Benko is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Vukovar 1991

Antonio Đaković 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.

Match

6 goals as HNK Vukovar 1991 and Hajduk Split go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between HNK Vukovar 1991 and Hajduk Split, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Match

HNK Vukovar 1991 come up short against Hajduk Split

Hajduk Split left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

735 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

27 Aug 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Hrvoje Benko damages knee ligaments — 32 days out

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.

Match

HNK Vukovar 1991 are in real trouble now

Position 10, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Antonio Đaković

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Vukovar 1991

Louis Buffon 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.

Squad

Words at HNK Vukovar 1991 training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Deda 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.

Player ratings

Jakov Gurlica was immovable

16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Moran Waheb

13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

Market

Antonio Đaković linked with a move away

The name of Antonio Đaković keeps appearing in other people's back pages. HNK Vukovar 1991 say nothing, which says plenty.

Match

No goals between HNK Vukovar 1991 and HNK Rijeka

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. HNK Rijeka will be the happier side with the point.

In brief

732 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

6 Aug 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Hrvoje Benko damages knee ligaments — 58 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at HNK Vukovar 1991

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Match

Chastening afternoon for HNK Vukovar 1991

A 1‑4 beating by HNK Gorica was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Boardroom

HNK Vukovar 1991 put the manager on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Boardroom

Crisis meeting at HNK Vukovar 1991

The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ivan Benko

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Benko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HNK Vukovar 1991 the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for HNK Vukovar 1991

6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Squad

Antonio Đaković signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Antonio Đaković and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years.

Match

No end in sight to HNK Vukovar 1991's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at HNK Vukovar 1991 has to find a result from somewhere.

In brief

731 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

30 Jul 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Hrvoje Benko

66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Antonio Đaković keeps HNK Vukovar 1991 in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Vukovar 1991

Antonio Đaković 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.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for HNK Vukovar 1991

5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Squad

Words at HNK Vukovar 1991 training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Silva 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.

Match

HNK Vukovar 1991 come up short against NK Osijek

NK Osijek left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Market

The Antonio Đaković talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Vukovar 1991 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Luka Klanac

Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Still no signature from Ivan Benko

1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what HNK Vukovar 1991 could get for him.

In brief

728 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

9 Jul 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Hrvoje Benko damages knee ligaments — 92 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.

Market

Ivan Benko has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HNK Vukovar 1991 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

HNK Vukovar 1991 to lose Ivan Benko for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ivan Benko 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.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Vukovar 1991

Louis Buffon 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.

Squad

Fernando Silva 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.

Boardroom

HNK Vukovar 1991 beat the market to Joseph Wilson from Hrvatski Dragovoljac

Hrvatski Dragovoljac will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Joseph Wilson has pre-agreed a move to HNK Vukovar 1991, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

In brief

728 Edition

The Hrvatski Dragovoljac Courier

9 Jul 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Borna Cik pulls a muscle — 19 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 19 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Boardroom

Joseph Wilson signs for HNK Vukovar 1991 while still at Hrvatski Dragovoljac

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Joseph Wilson has agreed terms with HNK Vukovar 1991 for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Ivan Težački 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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Randy Obam Bandolo signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Randy Obam Bandolo commits to Hrvatski Dragovoljac for another 2 years.

Boardroom

Ivan Benko will join Hrvatski Dragovoljac for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ivan Benko has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Hrvatski Dragovoljac have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Squad

Mijo Johansson 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.

In brief

727 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

2 Jul 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Hrvoje Benko

100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Mateo Deda out for 17 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

9 seasons of Olaf Stańczuk

28 appearances across 9 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and HNK Vukovar 1991 know what they have.

Squad

Words at HNK Vukovar 1991 training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Silva 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.

Boardroom

Intake day at the HNK Vukovar 1991 academy

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.

Market

The Antonio Đaković talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Vukovar 1991 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

726 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

25 Jun 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Mateo Deda out for 26 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Vukovar 1991

Louis Buffon 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.

Market

Mato Kasalo leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Mato Kasalo leaves HNK Vukovar 1991 the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

723 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

4 Jun 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Mateo Deda out for 53 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Eniss Shabani signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eniss Shabani and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years.

Squad

Louis Buffon 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 HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

719 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

7 May 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Niko Garić out for 33 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Moran Waheb has been here 12 seasons

126 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Squad

Sven Opačić signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sven Opačić and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years.

In brief

715 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

9 Apr 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Niko Garić out for 67 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Marco Benko damages knee ligaments — 23 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.

Squad

Niko Garić signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Niko Garić and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 1 years.

In brief

711 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

12 Mar 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Marco Benko damages knee ligaments — 57 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Vukovar 1991

Antonio Đaković 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.

Squad

Mateo Deda 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

707 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

13 Feb 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Marco Benko damages knee ligaments — 91 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.

Squad

Ivan Benko keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” HNK Vukovar 1991 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Louis Buffon 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 HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Mateo Deda 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.

Market

The Antonio Đaković talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Vukovar 1991 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

Marin Boric leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Marin Boric leaves HNK Vukovar 1991 the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

699 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

19 Dec 2039
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Mato Orsic

40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Ivan Benko keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” HNK Vukovar 1991 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Vukovar 1991

Moran Waheb 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.

In brief

662 Edition

The HNK Vukovar 1991 Post

4 Apr 2039
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Mateo Deda damages knee ligaments — 72 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.

Squad

Niko Garić breaks a bone — 38 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Hrvoje Modric is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

In brief