Toni Španja

Central Midfielder - Sibenik
5 Feb 2031
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Toni Španja

235 Edition

The Sibenik Post

27 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Danylo Beskorovainyi is a medical away from Sibenik

The deal with Dynamo Kyiv 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Tadej Bonaca

Sibenik 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.

Squad

Joey Brandt 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Dario Ivanovic knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dario Ivanovic trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Still no signature from Matija Subotić

7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Sibenik could get for him.

Market

Talks stall between Sibenik and Maykol Sánchez

“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.

Squad

Maykol Sánchez still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sibenik would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

The dugout

A door opens for Daniel Janků

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

Back issues
234 Edition

The Sibenik Post

20 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Matija Subotić

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matija Subotić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sibenik the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Noa Karaselimović 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 Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Ilija Pantelin is a medical away from Sibenik

The deal with Austria Wien 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.

Transfer targets

Noa Mikić turns down Sibenik

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Zagreb keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Aleksa Todorović

Sibenik 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.

Squad

Toni Španja in a row with a teammate

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Sibenik

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juraj Balić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Sibenik try to borrow Toni Ruso

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.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Maykol Sánchez

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sibenik told Maykol Sánchez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

In brief

233 Edition

The Sibenik Post

13 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Stipe Erceg 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 Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A row about effort at Sibenik

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Špeljak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell Sibenik: Mario Kramaric is not for sale

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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 dugout

Matija Subotić gets it from the manager

“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.

Transfer targets

Sibenik try to borrow Noa Mikić

Dinamo Zagreb 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.

Squad

This league is too small for Tin Livaja

He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Sibenik will not keep him by pretending otherwise.

Squad

Somebody is after Mario Pasalic’s shirt

A new face in his position, and Mario Pasalic suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Sibenik have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.

The dugout

Karlo Budanović knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Karlo Budanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

232 Edition

The Sibenik Post

6 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Sibenik are in real trouble now

Position 8, 22 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Dinamo Zagreb come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Sibenik did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Gustav Wulff asks to leave Sibenik

“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.

The dugout

Karlo Budanović keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sibenik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Karlo Špeljak is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Sibenik will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Transfer targets

Tin Livaja due for a Sibenik medical

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Sibenik

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dejan Vokić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Sibenik rebuffed over Karol Goralczyk

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Sibenik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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.

In brief

231 Edition

The Sibenik Post

30 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Petar Kovac out for 14 days

14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sibenik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

90% of the income goes out in wages at Sibenik

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.

In brief

226 Edition

The Sibenik Post

25 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Joey Brandt damages knee ligaments — 21 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Noa Karaselimović 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 Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Karlo Špeljak 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.

Squad

Toni Španja in a row with a teammate

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.

Market

The Karlo Špeljak talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sibenik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Dinko Utrobičić knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dinko Utrobičić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Labros Delibeis gets picked when it counts

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 Labros Delibeis is on it.

Market

The clock does Dinko Utrobičić’s negotiating for him

1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Sibenik could ask drops and the wages Dinko Utrobičić can ask rise.

The dugout

A door opens for Juraj Balić

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

224 Edition

The Sibenik Post

11 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Joey Brandt out for 35 days

35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sibenik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Mario Pasalic stands alone

10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

Sibenik are in real trouble now

Position 8, 19 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Matija Subotić 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 Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.

Match

6 matches without a win for Sibenik

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Sibenik are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Karlo Špeljak

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Karlo Špeljak 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Sibenik against HNK Vukovar 1991

0‑2 to HNK Vukovar 1991, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Hrvoje Srna
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Mato Tadic dropped after a run of poor form
219 Edition

The Sibenik Post

7 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Joey Brandt damages knee ligaments — 70 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Only the photograph left for Dinko Utrobičić

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dinko Utrobičić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sibenik the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Karlo Špeljak signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karlo Špeljak and Sibenik agree another 4 years.

Player ratings

Diego Sekulić beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Karlo Špeljak

9 goals and a season average of 7.31 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Karlo Špeljak

Marked 8.37 — 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.

Match

Honours even between Sibenik and Imotski

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Gustav Wulff

“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

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Mato Tadic dropped after a run of poor form
  • The dugout When it matters, Labros Delibeis plays
217 Edition

The Sibenik Post

23 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joey Brandt

84 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.

Player ratings

Karlo Špeljak runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Matija Subotić has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Karlo Špeljak 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.

Squad

Toni Španja in a row with a teammate

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.

Match

Hrvatski Dragovoljac take the points off Sibenik

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Mario Pasalic gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Diego Saina is still paying for one afternoon at Sibenik

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.

In brief

215 Edition

The Sibenik Post

9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joey Brandt

98 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Karlo Špeljak

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Diego Sekulić scores twice — 8.11

Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Sibenik are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 14 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Diego Saina at 21 — 8.79

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Diego Saina did not need any: 8.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Dinko Utrobičić has one foot out of the door

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.

Market

Stipe Erceg 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 Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Noa Mikić turns down Sibenik

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Zagreb keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Match

Sibenik leaking at the back

5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

In brief

214 Edition

The Sibenik Post

2 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Joey Brandt out for 105 days

105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sibenik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Dinko Utrobičić 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 Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Diego Saina, 21, steals the show — 8.54

Marked 8.54 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Dejan Vokić, 34, rolls back the years — 8.30

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Boardroom

Sibenik close the window on a squad of their own making

7 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Transfer targets

Mislav Grbic turns down Sibenik

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: HNK Rijeka keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Diego Sekulić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Dejan Vokić sends Sibenik past Lucko

It finished 3‑2, and it was Dejan Vokić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sibenik.

Squad

Toni Španja signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Toni Španja and Sibenik agree another 2 years.

In brief

212 Edition

The Sibenik Post

19 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Joey Brandt damages knee ligaments — 119 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 119 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Only the photograph left for Antonio Imširović

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Imširović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sibenik the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Josip Silić

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sibenik have done the hard part with NK Osijek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

A row about effort at Sibenik

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Špeljak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Karlo Špeljak’s goal not enough for Sibenik

Karlo Špeljak scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Sesvete, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Karlo Špeljak was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.43. 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.

The dugout

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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

Transfer targets

Sibenik ask about Aleksa Todorović

A loan enquiry to Dinamo Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

210 Edition

The Sibenik Post

5 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joey Brandt

133 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.

Player ratings

Both of them Karlo Špeljak's — 8.47

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Dinko Utrobičić 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 Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Tai Žnuderl

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sibenik have done the hard part with HNK Rijeka, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

Noa Mikić turns down Sibenik

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Zagreb keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Player ratings

Diego Sekulić was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Real improvement from Marcelo Stanisic at Sibenik

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marcelo Stanisic is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell Sibenik: Paolo Doneda is not for sale

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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

203 Edition

The Sibenik Post

17 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Matija Subotić puts it in writing

“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.

Market

Hajduk Split come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Sibenik did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

Sibenik rebuffed over Tobias Keller

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiva Zagreb have kept their man, and Sibenik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A row about effort at Sibenik

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Špeljak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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 dugout

Matija Subotić knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matija Subotić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Dinko Utrobičić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sibenik 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 dugout

Daniel Janků has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Daniel Janků has written the date down.

The dugout

Diego Sekulić keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Diego Sekulić plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

In brief

198 Edition

The Sibenik Post

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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.

Squad

Mato Tadic 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 dugout

Sime Kovac knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sime Kovac trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Karlo Špeljak linked with a move away

The name of Karlo Špeljak keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sibenik say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Gustav Wulff has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sibenik 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.

Boardroom

Sibenik keep producing them

49 graduates from an academy now rated 11 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.

In brief

196 Edition

The Sibenik Post

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Diego Sekulić puts it in writing

“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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Milos Dragićević

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Milos Dragićević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sibenik the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Špeljak 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Noa Karaselimović gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Matija Subotić gets picked when it counts

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 Matija Subotić is on it.

In brief

192 Edition

The Sibenik Post

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Diego Sekulić asks to leave Sibenik

“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.

Market

Milos Dragićević is on his way

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Sibenik

Diego Sekulić 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.

Squad

Sibenik lose Mario Pasalic

18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Gustav Wulff signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gustav Wulff and Sibenik agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Matija Subotić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sibenik 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.

In brief

191 Edition

The Sibenik Post

25 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Špeljak 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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 dugout

Dinko Utrobičić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sibenik 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.

In brief

189 Edition

The Sibenik Post

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Matija Subotić

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matija Subotić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sibenik the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Boardroom

Milos Dragićević signs for Lucko while still at Sibenik

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Milos Dragićević has agreed terms with Lucko for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Toni Španja in a row with a teammate

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

188 Edition

The Sibenik Post

4 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joey Brandt

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.

Market

Diego Sekulić asks to leave Sibenik

“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.

Market

Milos Dragićević has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Mario Pasalic out for 48 days

The medical room confirms 48 days on the sidelines for Mario Pasalic, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Karlo Špeljak 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Joey Brandt

“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.

Market

Talks stall between Sibenik and Matija Subotić

“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 dugout

Matija Subotić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sibenik 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.

In brief

184 Edition

The Sibenik Post

4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joey Brandt

49 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.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 0 in, 2 out at Sibenik

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Market

Leonard Vuk’s move to HNK Vukovar 1991 falls through

The deal that would have taken Leonard Vuk to HNK Vukovar 1991 has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Sibenik with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Transfer targets

Noa Mikić turns down Sibenik

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Zagreb keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Toni Španja signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Toni Španja and Sibenik agree another 2 years.

Squad

Karlo Špeljak 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 targets

Sibenik rebuffed over Adrian Pudić

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Varazdin have kept their man, and Sibenik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Toni Španja in a row with a teammate

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.

Transfer targets

Dominik Damjanović stays at HNK Vukovar 1991 as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Sibenik will try again when the window opens; HNK Vukovar 1991 may not be selling by then.

In brief

182 Edition

The Sibenik Post

21 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Joey Brandt damages knee ligaments — 64 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 64 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Dominik Damjanović

Sibenik and HNK Vukovar 1991 have settled on $37.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Market

Milos Dragićević asks to leave Sibenik

“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 targets

Too dear: Sibenik walk away from Komnen Andrić

$31.0K was the most the club would pay and Cibalia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Squad

A row about effort at Sibenik

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Špeljak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Tobias Keller

Sibenik asked and Lokomotiva 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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.

Transfer targets

Sibenik try to borrow Gabrijel Podhraški

Slaven Belupo 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.

The dugout

Leonard Vuk gets picked when it counts

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 Leonard Vuk is on it.

In brief

181 Edition

The Sibenik Post

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Joey Brandt damages knee ligaments — 72 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 72 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Sibenik turn down Hajduk Split for Matija Subotić

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Zvonimir Katalinić due for a Sibenik medical

Everything agreed with HNK Rijeka, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Sibenik make their move for Komnen Andrić

$31.0K on the table at Cibalia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Tai Žnuderl

Sibenik 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Joey Brandt

“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.

Squad

Leonard Vuk 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 dugout

Mario Pasalic 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.

In brief

180 Edition

The Sibenik Post

7 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joey Brandt

79 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.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Teo Novak

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sibenik have done the hard part with NK Varazdin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sibenik

Diego Sekulić 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Johnly Yfeko

Sibenik asked and Hajduk Split 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 dugout

Matija Subotić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sibenik 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.

Squad

The armband comes off Dejan Vokić

Sibenik will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.

The dugout

Matija Subotić 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.

Market

Still no ink between Sibenik and Dinko Utrobičić

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sibenik, another week without a signature from Dinko Utrobičić.

Boardroom

Open for business: Sibenik enter the window

The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.

In brief

177 Edition

The Sibenik Post

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Karlo Špeljak out for 35 days

35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sibenik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Joey Brandt 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

175 Edition

The Sibenik Post

3 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Karlo Špeljak

50 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.

Market

Diego Sekulić 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 Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Dejan Vokić signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dejan Vokić and Sibenik agree another 2 years.

Squad

Joey Brandt 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 99% of everything Sibenik 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.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Leonard Vuk

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sibenik told Leonard Vuk something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

When it matters, Dinko Utrobičić plays

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.

Market

The Matija Subotić story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matija Subotić signs something — a contract at Sibenik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

174 Edition

The Sibenik Post

26 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Karlo Špeljak out for 58 days

58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sibenik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Matija Subotić is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sibenik know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Squad

Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joey Brandt 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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 dugout

Joey Brandt 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 Sibenik, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mato Tadic

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mato Tadic, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Leonard Vuk plays

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.

Market

The Karlo Špeljak story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karlo Špeljak signs something — a contract at Sibenik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Market

Błażej Rusiłowicz runs his contract down

1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Sibenik money.

In brief

170 Edition

The Sibenik Post

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Karlo Špeljak out for 87 days

87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sibenik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Remember the name: Matija Subotić

He is 21, he is averaging 7.07, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.

Squad

Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joey Brandt 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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.

Match

Sibenik come up short against Dugopolje

Dugopolje left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Diego Saina gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Dario Barisic answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

Mato Tadic dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

The dugout

Dinko Utrobičić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sibenik 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.

In brief

168 Edition

The Sibenik Post

15 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Karlo Špeljak damages knee ligaments — 102 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 102 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Matija Subotić at 21 — 8.04

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Matija Subotić did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

The dugout

Błażej Rusiłowicz: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sibenik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Falke Vandecaetsbeek delivers — 7.67

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Falke Vandecaetsbeek scored, was marked 7.67, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Player ratings

Diego Sekulić runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joey Brandt 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.

Squad

Toni Španja in a row with a teammate

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.

The terraces

Sibenik supporters have found a favourite in Matija Subotić

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Matija Subotić 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.

Squad

Mario Pasalic stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Mario Pasalic and Sibenik agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

167 Edition

The Sibenik Post

8 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Karlo Špeljak out for 110 days

110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sibenik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Matija Subotić, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69

A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Player ratings

Vintage Toni Španja — 8.21

At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.21, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joey Brandt 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Karlo Budanović

At 21 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.

Match

Sibenik get the job done against Imotski

A 2‑0 win over Imotski, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Looking ahead

Sibenik and Segesta meet at the summit

The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.

Squad

Błażej Rusiłowicz wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sibenik know it.

In brief

  • Boardroom Wages eat 119% of everything Sibenik earn
  • Player ratings Diego Sekulić runs at them all day
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
166 Edition

The Sibenik Post

1 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Sibenik refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 19 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.

Player ratings

Matija Subotić, 21, steals the show — 7.76

Marked 7.76 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Toni Španja yet — 8.08

At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

The dugout

Stipe Erceg keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sibenik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Diego Sekulić in a row with a teammate

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.

Squad

Matija Subotić is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sibenik know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Squad

A row about effort at Sibenik

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joey Brandt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Sibenik find a way past Rudes

Rudes made Sibenik work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Karlo Špeljak was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.06. 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.

In brief

163 Edition

The Sibenik Post

10 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

7 unbeaten for Sibenik

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Sibenik did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Darijo Lovren signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darijo Lovren and Sibenik agree another 3 years.

Transfer targets

Sibenik rebuffed over Tobias Keller

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiva Zagreb have kept their man, and Sibenik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Tempers go at Sibenik

Toni Španja 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 dugout

Diego Saina gets it from the manager

“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.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Petar Krišto deal

Sibenik ran out of time with Dinamo Zagreb. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Looking ahead

The big one: Cibalia come into view

Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Sibenik will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.

Squad

Joey Brandt 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.

Player ratings

Karlo Špeljak was the difference for Sibenik

Marked 7.67. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

In brief

153 Edition

The Sibenik Post

2 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Leonard Vuk puts it in writing

“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.

Transfer targets

Niko Pavičić Ivelja due for a Sibenik medical

Everything agreed with Hajduk Split, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Real improvement from Gustav Wulff at Sibenik

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustav Wulff is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Max Anderson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Max Anderson has improved at 28, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Toni Španja signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Toni Španja and Sibenik agree another 2 years.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell Sibenik: Aleksa Todorović is not for sale

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.

Boardroom

Intake day at the Sibenik academy

7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.

The dugout

When it matters, Darijo Lovren plays

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.

In brief

149 Edition

The Sibenik Post

4 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Sibenik

Max Anderson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Karlo Špeljak 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 targets

Sibenik rebuffed over Luka Kukić

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Sibenik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

No place for Johnny Emerson in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Johnny Emerson has his answer from Sibenik; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Transfer targets

Sibenik ask about Maroje Kostopeč

A loan enquiry to Lokomotiva Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Squad

Dejan Vokić loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Dejan Vokić. Sibenik will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

Market

Still no signature from Max Anderson

3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Sibenik could get for him.

Market

The Karlo Špeljak question follows Sibenik around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Karlo Špeljak’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Błażej Rusiłowicz knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Błażej Rusiłowicz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief