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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac have had the benefit of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Vladimir Barak is living that version at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Hrvatski Dragovoljac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to Dinamo Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Hajduk Split 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hrvatski Dragovoljac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Antonio Jakoliš 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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Osman Kaynak 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 club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Hrvatski Dragovoljac this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hrvatski Dragovoljac know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The terraces23 Dec 2030
Supporters make their feelings known about Sime Petkovic
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Hrvatski Dragovoljac would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 2, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hrvatski Dragovoljac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darren Palmer 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Osman Kaynak 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.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sime Petkovic trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, another week without a signature from Calum Hewlett.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Lovren has become a man the manager trusts
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hrvatski Dragovoljac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Hrvatski Dragovoljac will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
Duje Matić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Osman Kaynak 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 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.
0‑3 to Slaven Belupo, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Antonio Jakoliš 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osman Kaynak 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
“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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Lovren will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hrvatski Dragovoljac the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Giovanni Jerolimov 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.
Marked 9.72 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Antonio Jakoliš 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.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osman Kaynak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 3, 15 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hrvatski Dragovoljac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hrvatski Dragovoljac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Dinamo Zagreb 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at NK Osijek is saying, and nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is enjoying the guessing.
Antonio Jakoliš 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.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac asked and Dinamo Zagreb 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 performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Osman Kaynak 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Lovren will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hrvatski Dragovoljac the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Giovanni Jerolimov 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.
6 goals in one match, Benjamin Dulčić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hrvatski Dragovoljac and Sibenik.
5 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.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ivica Orsic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
Antonio Jakoliš 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.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to HNK Rijeka. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hrvatski Dragovoljac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sesvete waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hrvatski Dragovoljac have done the hard part with Dinamo Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is running low.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Hrvatski Dragovoljac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Dulčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Hrvatski Dragovoljac will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to HNK Rijeka. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to Dinamo Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to NK Osijek. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Sesvete will make the call about Ivan Lovren this week. Hrvatski Dragovoljac have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jun 2030
At 21, Dmytro Zudin is already the best thing here
An average of 7.33 in a first team he is several years too young for. Hrvatski Dragovoljac have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Giovanni Jerolimov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osman Kaynak 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.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to HNK Rijeka. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to NK Osijek. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.33, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hrvatski Dragovoljac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Giovanni Jerolimov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osman Kaynak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Antonio Jakoliš was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
A season average of 7.33 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Hrvatski Dragovoljac know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Antonio Jakoliš 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Dulčić 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hrvatski Dragovoljac know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.33, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Giovanni Jerolimov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Dulčić 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hrvatski Dragovoljac know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hrvatski Dragovoljac can pretend not to have heard.
Antonio Jakoliš 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Antonio Jakoliš is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Glavan 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Benjamin Dulčić signs something — a contract at Hrvatski Dragovoljac or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Amadou Diallo is on it.
He is 16, he came through every age group here, and a borrowed player of about the same level starts every week ahead of him. The academy has noticed and so have the parents.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Lovren knocks on the manager’s door
A season average of 7.33 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Hrvatski Dragovoljac know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hrvatski Dragovoljac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Giovanni Jerolimov 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luka Sucic and Hrvatski Dragovoljac agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Osman Kaynak 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.
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.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Hrvatski Dragovoljac could ask drops and the wages Benjamin Dulčić can ask rise.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hrvatski Dragovoljac have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Everything agreed with NK Osijek, 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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac is enjoying the guessing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Simunovic and Hrvatski Dragovoljac agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slaven Belupo have kept their man, and Hrvatski Dragovoljac 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Andrej Mićić is in the works
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is running low.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac asked and HNK Rijeka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Ivan Lovren again, and this time the name on the line is Rudes. Hrvatski Dragovoljac are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osman Kaynak 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.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to Slaven Belupo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac have made the call to Dinamo Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hrvatski Dragovoljac will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hrvatski Dragovoljac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Antonio Jakoliš and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Osman Kaynak 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hrvatski Dragovoljac know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hrvatski Dragovoljac will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Jakoliš and Hrvatski Dragovoljac agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Dulčić 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Dinamo Zagreb go through and Hrvatski Dragovoljac go home, 1‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
1-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hrvatski Dragovoljac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hrvatski Dragovoljac will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 9 and 12 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mario Šuver and Hrvatski Dragovoljac agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Dmytro Zudin 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.
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 Hrvatski Dragovoljac can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Varazdin have kept their man, and Hrvatski Dragovoljac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Dulčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and HNK Vukovar 1991 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
A season average of 7.16 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Hrvatski Dragovoljac know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Giovanni Jerolimov 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Hrvatski Dragovoljac and Lucko, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hrvatski Dragovoljac have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hrvatski Dragovoljac is running low.
Giovanni Jerolimov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomislav Glumac 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.