Marked for Luke Wright
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom13 Aug 2035
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Market13 Aug 2035
Luke Wright hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Loznica can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words exchanged at Loznica
Tyler Quinn 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.
Squad13 Aug 2035
A row about effort at Loznica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Krstović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Loznica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match11 Aug 2035
Three points for Loznica, 2‑1 the final word against Radnicki 1923 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces13 Aug 2035
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Henrik Braithwaite 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.
Player ratings13 Aug 2035
Maid Ahmed was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. 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.
Player ratings13 Aug 2035
Kelvin Nkrumah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Jul 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Loznica is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom30 Jul 2035
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.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Words exchanged at Loznica
Kelvin Nkrumah 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.
Boardroom30 Jul 2035
Still nobody in the Loznica dugout
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Luka Krstović 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.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Novi Pazar 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.
Match28 Jul 2035
It needed Maid Ahmed to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mladost Lucani, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Boardroom30 Jul 2035
Loznica can only buy what they sell
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.
The dugout30 Jul 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristian Garces, and the manager let it.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The form table has caught Petar Simic
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Market
Luke Wright is free to find somewhere else
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jun 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Loznica can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jun 2035
Wesley Souza has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Loznica they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Ognjen Ivković 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.
Squad25 Jun 2035
A row about effort at Loznica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Krstović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
A loan enquiry to Vojvodina: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout25 Jun 2035
“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.
Market25 Jun 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Loznica know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market25 Jun 2035
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Loznica could get for him.
The dugout25 Jun 2035
Simon Meunier knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Loznica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom11 Jun 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at Loznica
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Loznica is running low.
Market11 Jun 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Loznica is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom11 Jun 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Antoni Klecha has agreed terms with Mačva Šabac for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Kelvin Nkrumah 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.
Squad11 Jun 2035
A move Simon Vervacke would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Simon Vervacke is living that version at Loznica, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Words at Loznica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Krstović 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.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market11 Jun 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Loznica, another week without a signature from Tyler Quinn.
Boardroom11 Jun 2035
Wages eat 95% of everything Loznica earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Apr 2035
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Loznica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market9 Apr 2035
“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 Loznica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Words exchanged at Loznica
Kelvin Nkrumah 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.
Boardroom9 Apr 2035
The numbers do not look good at Loznica
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.
Squad9 Apr 2035
A row about effort at Loznica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Krstović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luke Wright, and the manager let it.
Market9 Apr 2035
The name of Ognjen Ivković keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Loznica say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Loznica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match9 Apr 2035
Loznica have something to play for
Position 4 on 54 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Apr 2035
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Loznica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Loznica can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
Emergency meeting at Loznica
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.
Squad2 Apr 2035
A fracture rules Isa Aji out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Loznica will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Apr 2035
Wesley Souza has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Loznica they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Apr 2035
A falling-out at Loznica
Kelvin Nkrumah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Words at Loznica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Krstović 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.
Market2 Apr 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
The manager makes an example of Joseph Kell
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
Joseph Kell loses the manager who believed in him
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The dugout
Luke Wright asks for a word with the manager
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Boardroom
The Loznica dressing room answers