Marked for Jovan Manev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novi Pazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Nemanja Miletić
“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.
Market15 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Bijelović signs something — a contract at Novi Pazar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Novi Pazar
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market15 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A defender's afternoon for Jovan Manev
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Driton Camaj 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 Novi Pazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match13 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Vojvodina will be the happier side with the point.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nemanja Miletić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Novi Pazar
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Novi Pazar are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Driton Camaj 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 Novi Pazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Óscar Sánchez
“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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Miguel Guzmán and Novi Pazar agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Novi Pazar support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Novi Pazar's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novi Pazar has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Driton Camaj 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match9 Jan 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Zeleznicar Pancevo came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A defender's afternoon for Semir Alić
Defensive actions: 32. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Driton Camaj 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.96, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.93, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match14 Nov 2026
Three points for Novi Pazar, 2‑0 the final word against OFK Beograd in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Davidović
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Novi Pazar's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novi Pazar has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novi Pazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Novi Pazar, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Radnik Surdulica will be the happier side with the point.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Driton Camaj keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Novi Pazar say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Novi Pazar's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novi Pazar has to find a result from somewhere.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Filip Bačkulja
“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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Novi Pazar, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market14 Sep 2026
The name of Driton Camaj keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Novi Pazar say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
At 24 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Novi Pazar have a decision that made itself.
Market14 Sep 2026
Novi Pazar spent the window trying to move Nemanja Miletić on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Novi Pazar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Novi Pazar
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.13 — 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novi Pazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
Radnicki Nis go through and Novi Pazar go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Novi Pazar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Novi Pazar's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Novi Pazar has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Filip Jović 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Novi Pazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.72 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Novi Pazar had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad24 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Novi Pazar have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Novi Pazar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Driton Camaj 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 Novi Pazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nemanja Miletić, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Jovan Manev
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Novi Pazar have let the market know Nemanja Miletić can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Filip Jović 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 Novi Pazar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Match15 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Napredak came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.