Kingsley Coman 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Partizan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Uroš Račić 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.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Uroš Račić.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Novi Pazar defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikola Simić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The terraces1 Jan 2035
Supporters make their feelings known about Nikola Simić
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Partizan would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Partizan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Kingsley Coman 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Partizan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
8 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Partizan heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Pavlovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateja Milovanović 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Kingsley Coman 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Partizan heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Pavlovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Uroš Račić 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.
“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; Partizan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Kingsley Coman 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Beer Vijfhuizen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateja Milovanović 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Kingsley Coman 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Pavlovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal that would have taken Alessandro Zanellati to Vojvodina has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Partizan with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateja Milovanović 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.
“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 Partizan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Partizan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Partizan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
14 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Zanellati will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ivan Pavlovic is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
13 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The offer from Napredak for Milos Lazovic was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Kingsley Coman 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Partizan heard it as anything else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad3 Jul 2034
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateja Milovanović 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 Partizan can pretend not to have heard.
Kingsley Coman 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 offer from OFK Beograd for Ivan Pavlovic was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateja Milovanović 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.
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.
The offer from Spartak Subotica for Nikola Simić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Partizan 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 Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iddrisu Baba 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.
Add another name to the list: OFK Beograd have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ivan Pavlovic. The answer from Partizan has not changed — yet.
“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; Partizan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Partizan have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Pavlovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Partizan 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 Partizan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Pavlovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Partizan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Kingsley Coman 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Pavlovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Partizan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
In brief
SquadUroš Račić falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Kingsley Coman 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Partizan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Mar 2034
Words at Partizan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateja Milovanović 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.