Lazar Mijović 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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 Alexandr Shestyuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lazar Mijović 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Cukaricki will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Chrystian Barletta 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 Lazar Tufegdžić is on it.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Asger Nyholm Frederiksen has moved up it.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Đorđe Nikolić 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 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.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
The manager has not finished forgetting Harrison Parker's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Lazar Mijović 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 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.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Chrystian Barletta has just signed for Cukaricki, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Remy Rees-Dottin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Lazar Tufegdžić is on it.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ryan Alebiosu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cukaricki the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Remy Rees-Dottin is on 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.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
The manager has not finished forgetting Harrison Parker's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lazar Mijović 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 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.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Dejan Meleg
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lazar Mijović 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Đorđe Nikolić is on it.
“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 Cukaricki will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki, 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Lazar Tufegdžić 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 Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cukaricki people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lazar Mijović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2033
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Stanković 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.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
Cukaricki had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Spartak Subotica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Đorđe Nikolić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 4 on 51 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lazar Mijović 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Harly-James Miamoutima is living that version at Cukaricki, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2033
Cukaricki close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 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.
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.
Cukaricki had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sport Recife, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cukaricki had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Partizan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and OFK Beograd waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Uroš Miladinović had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and OFK Beograd were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Cukaricki had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Spartak Subotica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Lazar Mijović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
SquadWords at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cukaricki have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksa Čolović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cukaricki the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cukaricki hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Cukaricki asked and Partizan 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 clubs have shaken hands with Spartak Subotica; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sport Recife 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Cukaricki will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Celje have kept their man, and Cukaricki go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
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.
Marked 8.08 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Remy Rees-Dottin at his very best
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.
Lazar Mijović 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 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.
8.23. 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Alexandr Shestyuk will call it something else in private.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Petar Pavlovic on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Lazar Mijović decided otherwise. Radnik Surdulica had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Lazar Mijović 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.
A brace, and Lazar Mijović takes the afternoon — 8.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lazar Mijović provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lazar Mijović. 2‑0 against IMT, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
7 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.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lazar Mijović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2032
Milan Đoković 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.
In brief
The dugoutRyan Alebiosu knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kayode Saliman
Lazar Mijović 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 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 Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
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.
1 for Charlie Gray, marked 7.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Radnicki 1923 kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Cukaricki will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings15 Nov 2032
A brace, and Lazar Mijović takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lazar Mijović provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vojislav Jokić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Cukaricki prefer.
The dugout8 Nov 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Petar Pavlovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Half the programme played, position 4, 30 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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.
93 minutes played. Alexandr Shestyuk found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Novi Pazar went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
4 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.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojislav Jokić 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.
Spartak Subotica will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Cukaricki were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
“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 Cukaricki, 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Oct 2032
Lazar Mijović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.92. 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Wout Kapers has just signed for Cukaricki, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
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.” Petar Pavlovic kept it short after the 5‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
14 seasons and 257 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
Lazar Mijović 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 Nikola Stanković 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.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Lazar Mijović 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Vojvodina; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Đorđe Nikolić is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cukaricki has been clear about where Aleksa Čolović stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
9.71. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cukaricki and Javor-Matis in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Stanković 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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Đorđe Nikolić
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Radnik Surdulica will replay every second of the added time for a week.
4 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 21 gone
That is the business done at Cukaricki until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Uroš Miladinović. 2‑1 against Radnik Surdulica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateja Premović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cukaricki the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Lazar Mijović 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
7.24, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ángel Peñaranda has agreed terms with Vojvodina for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chornomorets waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Shestyuk and Cukaricki agree another 3 years.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cukaricki can tell you which week it ends in.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Petar Pavlovic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cukaricki have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Shestyuk and Cukaricki agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Lazar Mijović 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 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.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cukaricki people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Cukaricki moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Petar Pavlovic, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Radnik Surdulica wanted more than $42.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandar Maksimovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Cukaricki have gone to Radnik Surdulica with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Vojislav Jokić has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rodrigo Viola has just signed for Cukaricki, and for once the answer mattered.
Cukaricki offered $7.0K; Vojvodina said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Lazar Mijović 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 17 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.
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.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cukaricki know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Cukaricki
The deal that would have taken Mateja Premović to Spartak Subotica has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Cukaricki with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yohann Nguetsop will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cukaricki the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
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 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cukaricki people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Aleksa Čolović is living that version at Cukaricki, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Catania is saying, and nobody at Cukaricki is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about David Đokić again, and this time the name on the line is Obolon. Cukaricki are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
In brief
The dugoutStefan Matic knocks on the manager’s door
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Catania 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.
Lazar Mijović 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.
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 Đorđe Nikolić is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Cukaricki will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
$460.0K on the table at Partizan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cukaricki they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer went to TSC this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Afonso Lee has, at Cukaricki, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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 Lazar Tufegdžić is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Aleksandar Radonjic's mistake
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ryan Alebiosu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadCharlie Gray falls out with a teammate over standards
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Squad17 May 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yohann Nguetsop will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cukaricki the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Cukaricki know 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 Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad10 May 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charlie Gray 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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Filip Dostanić
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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 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 Cukaricki know it.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Nikola Stanković is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cukaricki know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cukaricki heard it as anything else.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Cukaricki now know that too.
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 Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charlie Gray was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cukaricki know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Lazar Mijović 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Stanković 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 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 Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Cukaricki, 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Cukaricki will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 Nikola Stanković is on it.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Charlie Gray 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cukaricki know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Stanković 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 Đorđe Nikolić is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cukaricki know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yohann Nguetsop will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cukaricki the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojislav Jokić 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 Lazar Tufegdžić is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brandon Cambridge trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojislav Jokić 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 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 Cukaricki know it.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cukaricki hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Lazar Mijović 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.
“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 Cukaricki know it.
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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki 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 Vojislav Jokić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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 league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 49 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cukaricki can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikola Stanković and Cukaricki agree another 4 years.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Cukaricki asked and Partizan 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 words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Leon Ivanović has, at Cukaricki, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Cukaricki close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Add another name to the list: Jubilo Iwata have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Brandon Cambridge. The answer from Cukaricki has not changed — yet.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikola Stanković and Cukaricki agree another 4 years.
Lazar Mijović 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 words a physio says slowly. 55 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Uroš Miladinović provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cukaricki heard it as anything else.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Dusan Simic has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Lazar Mijović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojislav Jokić 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.
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Luken Suárez has agreed terms with Novi Pazar for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojislav Jokić 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.
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Lazar Mijović 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vojislav Jokić has his answer from Cukaricki; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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 Cukaricki 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 Vojislav Jokić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.05. 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.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vojislav Jokić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Nikola Stanković is on it.
It needed Lazar Mijović to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Radnik Surdulica, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cukaricki can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Lazar Mijović 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.
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 Đorđe Nikolić is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charlie Gray was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Lazar Mijović 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.
8.05. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
Player ratingsSambou Sissoko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki 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.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
16 seasons and 527 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Veljko Grujic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“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.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Petar Pavlovic to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cukaricki heard it as anything else.
Lazar Mijović 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 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.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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 2‑1 win over Mladost Lucani, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cukaricki hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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 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 Cukaricki know it.
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Stanković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Cukaricki are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Two goals and a mark of 9.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandr Shestyuk. 3‑2 against Spartak Subotica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
In brief
The dugoutSambou Sissoko is still being punished for one mistake
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ryan Alebiosu wants continental football; whether Cukaricki can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Lazar Mijović 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 86 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sambou Sissoko provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Stanković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Marco Ilaimaharitra 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Uroš Miladinović provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cukaricki hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Lazar Mijović 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 17 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Petar Pavlovic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Lazar Mijović 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 Nikola Stanković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.96 — 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.
Marked 8.35 — 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Partizan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki 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 Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Cukaricki close the window on a squad of their own making
24 in and 20 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ángel Peñaranda has just signed for Cukaricki, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Branislav Rajkovic 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 Cukaricki can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Partizan is saying, and nobody at Cukaricki is enjoying the guessing.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Partizan have accepted the money. What Cukaricki do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Radnicki 1923 have kept their man, and Cukaricki go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑3 to Partizan, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have shaken hands with Partizan; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cukaricki can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The offer went to Radnicki 1923 this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Lazar Mijović 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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
A brace, and Lazar Mijović takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lazar Mijović provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Cukaricki asked and Partizan 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Partizan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Đorđe Nikolić 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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cukaricki is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cukaricki heard it as anything else.
Đorđe Nikolić 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.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Marko Ćurić has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cukaricki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 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.
“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 Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cukaricki have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 17 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.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Lazar Mijović 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OFK Beograd have kept their man, and Cukaricki go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Cukaricki had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Partizan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Djordje Gacinovic has agreed terms with Radnicki Nis for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words at Cukaricki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shestyuk 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catania have kept their man, and Cukaricki go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Cukaricki 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cukaricki have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Ćurić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cukaricki 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ahrobiznes have kept their man, and Cukaricki go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Partizan this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Lazar Mijović 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. Radnicki 1923 have kept their man, and Cukaricki go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Lazar Tufegdžić is on it.
Something was said to Roger Manríque and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cukaricki have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cukaricki can pretend not to have heard.
Cukaricki had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Borussia Dortmund, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Shestyuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Cukaricki are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A loan enquiry to Paris Saint-Germain: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
In brief
The dugoutRyan Alebiosu knocks on the manager’s door