Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vojvodina can pretend not to have heard.
Vojvodina had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sparta Prague, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Cody David on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Vojvodina and Cukaricki.
Vojvodina asked and Sparta Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadWords at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Player ratingsDejan Zukić beats them one at a time
BoardroomNobody left the Vojvodina dressing room in a hurry
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. Vojvodina will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Stefan Mitrović 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.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cody David 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.
Minute 93, against Javor-Matis, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dejan Meleg has his answer from Vojvodina; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Lucas Barros was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Mawuli Mensah 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vojvodina has been clear about where Branislav Knežević stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bogdan Bogdanović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vojvodina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Marked 8.46 — 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.
A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cody David 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vojvodina can pretend not to have heard.
A 2‑0 win over Radnicki 1923, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cody David was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A brace, and Cody David takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cody David provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bogdan Bogdanović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vojvodina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mawuli Mensah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vojvodina can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Lucas Barros 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cody David 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
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 Luka Luković is on it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Cody David 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.
Minute 89, against Spartak Subotica, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Nobody at Vojvodina 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.
“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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vojvodina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mawuli Mensah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.92 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Vojvodina had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sergej Bogdanovic kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Cody David could not do
Stefan Mitrović 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.
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.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Cody David 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Sergej Bogdanovic could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutDejan Zukić has become a man the manager trusts
Stefan Mitrović 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.
At 23 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cody David 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vojvodina has been clear about where Filip Krstić stands, which is more than many ever get.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sergej Bogdanovic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Vojvodina dressing room was either.
Lazar Peranović is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Napredak defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
In brief
The dugoutLuka Luković has become a man the manager trusts
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mawuli Mensah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Basel have kept their man, and Vojvodina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vojvodina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bogdan Bogdanović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vojvodina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Vojvodina asked and Venezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Javor-Matis left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cody David 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lucas Barros 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.
0‑1 to Radnik Surdulica, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cody David 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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Vojvodina close the window on a squad of their own making
32 in and 24 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lech keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Lucas Barros 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mawuli Mensah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Subotica have kept their man, and Vojvodina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vojvodina have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vojvodina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Vojvodina had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rapid Wien, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vojvodina 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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stefan Mladenović is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rapid Wien have kept their man, and Vojvodina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: AFC Leopards have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Divine Onourah. The answer from Vojvodina has not changed — yet.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Mladost Lucani had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Dragan Rosić
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vojvodina have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vojvodina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vojvodina have done the hard part with Olimpija Ljubljana, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Vojvodina had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kornél Szűcs has agreed terms with Partizan for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The offer from Persebaya for Divine Onourah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Lucas Barros 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mawuli Mensah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vojvodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rukh have kept their man, and Vojvodina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vojvodina have done the hard part with KAA Gent, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lech is saying, and nobody at Vojvodina is enjoying the guessing.
Add another name to the list: Kano Pillars have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cody David. The answer from Vojvodina has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Mawuli Mensah 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dragan Rosić is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vojvodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Crvena Zvezda for Matija Gočmanac was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zeleznicar Pancevo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vojvodina is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vojvodina can pretend not to have heard.
Vojvodina had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Slavia Prague, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Vojvodina know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
In brief
SquadWords at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
27 games and 5 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad29 May 2028
Cody David 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.
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 Dragan Rosić is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vojvodina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Dragan Kokanović may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vojvodina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boris Radunović 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boris Matić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vojvodina can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Cody David is on it.
Stefan Stanisavljević and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Boris Matić 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vojvodina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boris Radunović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boris Matić 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
11 new faces, and Vojvodina are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“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 Vojvodina know it.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boris Matić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
TSC will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Will Evans has pre-agreed a move to Vojvodina, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Marko Mladenović 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Cody David has his answer from Vojvodina; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
“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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vojvodina they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jan Paluska 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boris Matić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Vojvodina know it.
Nobody at Vojvodina 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Blendi Idrizi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vojvodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The offer from Enyimba for Cody David was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Vojvodina have had the benefit of it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rivaldo Zwane. 3‑2 against Javor-Matis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Boris Matić 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.
Boris Radunović 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boris Matić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rivaldo Zwane. 1‑0 against Radnik Surdulica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.43, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vukan Savićević, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sergej Bogdanovic kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Vojvodina 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.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vojvodina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boris Matić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Stefan Stanisavljević will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Vojvodina escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Boris Radunović 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Boris Matić 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.
Partizan next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Boris Radunović 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boris Matić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Dragan Rosić
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Vojvodina 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.