Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sibenik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Dec 2042
Nikita Romas 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.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sibenik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2042
Nikita Romas 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.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sibenik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
23 combined actions and 6.66. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Benjamin Murray scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Imotski, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad3 Nov 2042
Nikita Romas 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
2‑3 against Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Stefan Bastaja 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nart Ahmeti. 2‑1 against Rudes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The phone has started ringing about Ante Knezevic again, and this time the name on the line is HNK Vukovar 1991. Sibenik are listening politely and promising nothing.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Squad28 Jul 2042
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Romas 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.
Giorgi Gogatishvili 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.
Chances created: 6. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 3, 35 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.
The phone has started ringing about Antonio Santiago again, and this time the name on the line is Istra 1961. Sibenik are listening politely and promising nothing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sibenik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Stefan Bastaja 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Sibenik training over how hard people work
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Antonio Santiago again, and this time the name on the line is Istra 1961. Sibenik are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jaba Kashia is living that version at Sibenik, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sibenik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nart Ahmeti 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 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.
Squad7 Apr 2042
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Romas 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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Feb 2042
Nikita Romas 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.
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Hrvatski Dragovoljac moved on, Ante Knezevic reports back to Sibenik, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadNikita Romas falls out with a teammate over standards
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sibenik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sibenik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 3, 35 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Sesvete will make the call about Antonio Santiago this week. Sibenik have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad13 Jan 2042
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Romas 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.