62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bjelovar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jurica Jurčec 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Mladost Zdralovi had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bjelovar has been clear about where Matija Fintić stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bjelovar, another week without a signature from Mihael Mladen.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Craig Mamilo 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.
In brief
Player ratingsLoren Maružin beats them one at a time
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bjelovar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bjelovar can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bjelovar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bjelovar have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Jurica Jurčec 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.
Hajduk Split paid $310.0K and Bjelovar took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Mihael Mladen 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amar Pekarić 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bjelovar, another week without a signature from Loren Maružin.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bjelovar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Bjelovar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bjelovar moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Darijo Pjaca, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Everything agreed with Istra 1961, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Mihael Mladen 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Bjelovar and Djakovo Croatia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
Player ratingsRobert Perić-Komšić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Boardroom5 academy players handed senior numbers at Bjelovar
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Zagreb, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Bjelovar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Amar Pekarić 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bjelovar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Bjelovar 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.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bjelovar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bjelovar, another week without a signature from Šimun Grgić.
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.
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.
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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bjelovar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 46 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Antonio Blažanović had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Craig Mamilo 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 words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Antonio Blažanović has come up in conversations Bjelovar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fran Kukec, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Amar Pekarić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Loren Maružin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bjelovar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bjelovar is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jarun Zagreb have kept their man, and Bjelovar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bjelovar have made the call to NK Varazdin. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bjelovar have made the call to Lokomotiva Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bjelovar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutAmar Pekarić has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 129 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 fee is $78.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. BSK Bijelo Brdo drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Craig Mamilo 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.
Bjelovar have made the call to NK Varazdin. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
136 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bjelovar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 2, 46 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.
Mihael Mladen 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 Amar Pekarić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Antonio Blažanović has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bjelovar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Bjelovar had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Dario Barada 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 Igor Ribić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
24 games, 14 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Bjelovar now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Bjelovar know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakov Gurlica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Petrusenko 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.
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.
Nobody at Bjelovar 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bjelovar. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksandr Petrusenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody at Bjelovar 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 Karlo Valjan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bjelovar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Bjelovar will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Zvonimir Josić on the training pitch
Dario Barada 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Jakov Gurlica 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.
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.
He is 18, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ante Knezović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Amar Pekarić is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksandr Petrusenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bjelovar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Loren Maružin signs something — a contract at Bjelovar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bjelovar. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Ivan Lagundžić are not good
Position 2, 46 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.
Mihael Mladen 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 Jakov Gurlica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bjelovar, another week without a signature from Igor Ribić.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Bjelovar will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksandr Petrusenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Robert Perić-Komšić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Bjelovar will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
An average of 7.03 in a first team he is several years too young for. Bjelovar have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Petrusenko 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.
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 Amar Pekarić is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAmar Pekarić knocks on the manager’s door
Jurica Jurčec 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 Jakov Gurlica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Something was said to Jakov Gurlica and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bjelovar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Loren Maružin signs something — a contract at Bjelovar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 2, 46 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.
Dario Barada 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 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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 Ivan Lagundžić is on it.
In brief
The dugoutLoren Maružin knocks on the manager’s door
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Božidar Radošević and Bjelovar agree another 2 years.
Mihael Mladen 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Petrusenko 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bjelovar can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bjelovar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov Gurlica 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 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksandr Petrusenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Bjelovar will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Nikola Gatarić.
A season average of 7.22 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Valjan 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Borna Kovačević 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.
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Jakov Gurlica 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Robert Perić-Komšić will call it something else in private.
He is 18, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Bjelovar close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 0 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.
Jurica Jurčec 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 Oleksandr Petrusenko 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Zvonimir Josić will call it something else in private.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Bjelovar asked and MFK Skalica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Karlo Valjan 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 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 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.
Minute 90, against Kustosija, 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Loren Maružin.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Zvonimir Josić did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Oleksandr Petrusenko scored, was marked 7.56, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Mihael Mladen 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 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Ribić 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.
Mihael Mladen 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Segesta have kept their man, and Bjelovar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Valjan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bjelovar have made the call to Lokomotiva Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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. Bjelovar will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrik Horvat did not need any: 8.06, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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. Bjelovar will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Bjelovar know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Bjelovar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Valjan 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Solal Théréau is living that version at Bjelovar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Ribić 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.
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.
Rino Grubišić 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Radnik Krizevci the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Bjelovar will enjoy reviewing.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrik Horvat did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Valjan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Jurica Jurčec was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Valjan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Bjelovar had all but put away. Uskok will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Ribić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Mihael Mladen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Karlo Valjan 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 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mihael Mladen. 2‑0 against Djakovo Croatia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Mihael Mladen 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 Karlo Valjan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 94, against Segesta, 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: 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.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutAmar Pekarić has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Šimun Grgić
Mihael Mladen 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Ribić 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bjelovar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Bjelovar 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
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Bjelovar man
Loren Maružin had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Grobnican were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Valjan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Borna Kovačević was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
Rino Grubišić 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 Karlo Valjan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Dugo Selo had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Position 2, 20 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 hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrik Horvat did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for 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 Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Ribić 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrik Horvat 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.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dailon Ramadani provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matej Grahovac is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Dario Barada 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: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Valjan 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.
At 22 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Borna Kovačević. 1‑0 against Mladost Zdralovi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bjelovar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bjelovar is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Karlo Valjan 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bjelovar told Patrik Horvat something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mladost Zdralovi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Mihael Mladen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Igor Ribić 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 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Božidar Radošević, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Mihael Mladen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Borna Kovačević 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jurica Jurčec is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Fran Kukec
Mihael Mladen 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Valjan 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
25 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.
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.
A 1‑1 draw with Kustosija leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Darijo Pjaca chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Bjelovar and Varteks in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Karlo Valjan 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fran Kukec trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Igor Ribić 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.
At 22 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.
Rino Grubišić 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 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
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.” Darijo Pjaca kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 40 arrived, 23 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Jurica Jurčec 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 Patrik Horvat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Božidar Radošević is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Bjelovar are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bjelovar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Solin next, and one man in the Bjelovar dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Everything agreed with HNK Gorica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Dario Barada 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.
Bjelovar 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Bjelovar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Ribić 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.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
25 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.
Trnje will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Bjelovar were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Karlo Valjan delivers — 7.88
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Karlo Valjan scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bjelovar have done the hard part with Dugopolje, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mihael Mladen 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Bjelovar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 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.
Marked 8.30 — 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Radnik Krizevci the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Bjelovar will enjoy reviewing.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $50.1K — a club that wants Moris Majdak-Zebić enough to be asked twice.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bjelovar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$44.0K on the table at Kustosija. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marko Novak-Stanko and Bjelovar agree another 4 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Bjelovar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mihael Mladen is living that version at Bjelovar, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with Dinamo Zagreb 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Šimun Grgić is a Bjelovar player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Mihael Mladen 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Dario Perisic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Domagoj Bjelica is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Bjelovar know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Loren Maružin has, at Bjelovar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Bjelovar know which stage they are at.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bjelovar, another week without a signature from Božidar Radošević.
14 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.
Bjelovar have made the call to Dugopolje. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.