Marked for Raphaël Breem
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2032
The knee: Kamil Broda out for 93 days
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Warszawa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Robert Dadok 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.
Match11 Sep 2032
ŁKS Łódź left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
112% of the income goes out in wages at Polonia Warszawa
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.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
Basile Hazée 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.
Market13 Sep 2032
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Seweryn Marek's mistake
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Player ratings
A costly moment from Raphaël Breem
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jul 2031
33 days out for Mateo Knezevic after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Jul 2031
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Lucko, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Mihael Stipić 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 targets14 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
“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.
Market14 Jul 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lucko, another week without a signature from Leo Perić.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
Niko Đolonga has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lucko 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Mar 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tvrtko Buljan
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lucko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Mar 2031
“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.
Boardroom17 Mar 2031
Lucko counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Lucko now.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Lucko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Antolković 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 dugout17 Mar 2031
Leo Perić 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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Tempers go at Lucko
Raphaël Breem 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 dugout17 Mar 2031
Tvrtko Buljan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lucko 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 dugout17 Mar 2031
Ivan Kešina 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.
Market17 Mar 2031
The clock does Tvrtko Buljan’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Lucko could ask drops and the wages Tvrtko Buljan can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Feb 2031
“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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
A falling-out at Lucko
Antonio Majcenić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words at Lucko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Antolković 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marin Majer and Lucko agree another 3 years.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
Leo Perić 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 Leo Perić is on it.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
The manager makes an example of Raphaël Breem
“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.
Market24 Feb 2031
The Ivan Kešina talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lucko know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lucko. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market24 Feb 2031
The clock does David Arapović’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Lucko could ask drops and the wages David Arapović can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Feb 2031
Ivan Kešina 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 Lucko can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
The numbers do not look good at Lucko
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Lucko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Vučković 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.
Transfer targets17 Feb 2031
Lucko 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.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
Tvrtko Buljan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lucko 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 dugout17 Feb 2031
“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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
“I want to play”: Andrei Hagi speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market17 Feb 2031
Leo Perić linked with a move away
The name of Leo Perić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Lucko say nothing, which says plenty.