Marked for Roberto Arango
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 May 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 May 2031
Uroš Miladinović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danilo Knežević 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 dugout12 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Danilo Knežević
“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.
Market12 May 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout12 May 2031
Uroš Miladinović has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cukaricki 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 dugout12 May 2031
Miloš Soprenić 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 Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 May 2031
The manager makes Dion Krasniqi a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cukaricki. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market12 May 2031
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Cukaricki money.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Apr 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market21 Apr 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Danilo Knežević 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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Cukaricki can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filip Matijašević, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
Mateo Maravić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cukaricki 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 dugout21 Apr 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Apr 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Miloš Soprenić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Mar 2031
Mateo Maravić has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Mar 2031
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Cukaricki
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon Cambridge was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dion Krasniqi, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
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 dugout24 Mar 2031
Miloš Soprenić 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 Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market24 Mar 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Miloš Soprenić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Match24 Mar 2031
Continental football is in reach for Cukaricki
44 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Feb 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings24 Feb 2031
No sign of nerves from Branislav Tadic at 18 — 7.69
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Branislav Tadic did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Feb 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Arin Abdollahzadeh Zare has just signed for Cukaricki, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 Feb 2031
A row about effort at Cukaricki
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon Cambridge was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces24 Feb 2031
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match22 Feb 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Branislav Tadic. 2‑0 against IMT, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings24 Feb 2031
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market27 Jan 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cukaricki people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings27 Jan 2031
Two goals and a mark of 7.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match25 Jan 2031
Cukaricki make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Cukaricki have 5 straight wins of it.
Market27 Jan 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market27 Jan 2031
Veljko Jocić has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market27 Jan 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Crvena Zvezda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words exchanged at Cukaricki
Miloš Soprenić 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Dec 2030
Milan Đoković has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market9 Dec 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Cambridge 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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Miloš Soprenić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Dec 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Cukaricki can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
“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.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Nov 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market25 Nov 2030
Leon Bätge 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 Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Uroš Miladinović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
This is not rotation. Leon Bätge has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Cukaricki is pretending otherwise.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
20 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market25 Nov 2030
He is 17, and nobody at Cukaricki signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.