Marked for Andrej Babic
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Feb 2033
21 matches without a win for Dinamo Vranje
The run now stands at 21, and the questions being asked around Dinamo Vranje are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom21 Feb 2033
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Dinamo Vranje
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Feb 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Vranje this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Achiel Callens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Feb 2033
The team sheet said everything about Dejan Bogdanovic
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 Dejan Bogdanovic.
Market21 Feb 2033
“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.
Market21 Feb 2033
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Match19 Feb 2033
A 1‑1 draw with Mačva Šabac leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 May 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 The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 May 2031
Robert Janjiš 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
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Gabriele Osti, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad12 May 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hasan Niksic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 May 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uljanik Pula, another week without a signature from Jakov Brekalo.
The dugout12 May 2031
Teo Serdarević asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market12 May 2031
The clock does Marko Pervan’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Uljanik Pula could ask drops and the wages Marko Pervan can ask rise.
Boardroom12 May 2031
The Uljanik Pula production line keeps running
50 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
Match12 May 2031
Nothing left to play for but pride at Uljanik Pula
35 points in position 11: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 May 2031
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.
Market5 May 2031
Domagoj Majer 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 Uljanik Pula can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 May 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 Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 May 2031
$454.3K of the owner's money at Uljanik Pula
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad5 May 2031
Tomislav 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.
Boardroom5 May 2031
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Market5 May 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uljanik Pula, another week without a signature from Marko Pervan.
The dugout5 May 2031
Robert Janjiš without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Robert Janjiš was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout5 May 2031
Mato Bagavac asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.