Grobnican close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 2 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ivan Ninčević has, at Grobnican, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Kustosija will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Carlos Daniel Mejia Klinger has pre-agreed a move to Grobnican, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Grobnican can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Grobnican have done the hard part with Jihlava, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Grobnican asked and Cibalia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Mario Nikolić 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Grobnican will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Tonći Mujan 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 Filip Vajdovčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Grobnican asked and HNK Vukovar 1991 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grobnican know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Grobnican 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.
He is 18, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“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 Grobnican, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hajduk Split is saying, and nobody at Grobnican 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 Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić 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 offer from HNK Gorica for Filip Vajdovčić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Filip Vajdovčić 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Roko Jurjević has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Grobnican have had the benefit of it.
Ivano Kolarik 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 Filip Vajdovčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grobnican, another week without a signature from Filip Vajdovčić.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Matija Subotić did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
9 combined actions and 6.85. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Grobnican know what they have, and so, by now, does 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 Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Nikolić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Grobnican know it.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Mario Nikolić.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fran Vrsaljko after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Tomislav Grdenić 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.
13 combined actions and 7.15. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Vajdovčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mario Nikolić, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Fran Vrsaljko chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Orijent 1919 defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Vajdovčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grobnican, another week without a signature from Filip Vajdovčić.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Fran Vrsaljko was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Grobnican dressing room was either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grobnican have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Grobnican will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Filip Vajdovčić 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 Niko Radujković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over HNK Vukovar 1991, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
He is 18, he is averaging 7.04, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Tonći Mujan 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 Filip Vajdovčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 18 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Tomislav Grdenić 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Karlovac 1919 in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nobody at Grobnican 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ange Chiesa has written the date down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Filip Vajdovčić 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 Mario Nikolić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 18-year-old at Grobnican who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Filip Vajdovčić 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Mario Nikolić 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 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.
“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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Sesvete spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Tomislav Grdenić 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Niko Radujković has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Mario Nikolić 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.
Position 5, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Vajdovčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ivan Ikić has his answer from Grobnican; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Grobnican can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Perić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tomislav Grdenić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Grobnican needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican 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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Ivan Kargotić now has 25 of them across 79 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grobnican, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Jakov Dedić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Nikolić 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.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Grobnican had all but put away. Rudes will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vinko Bičanić has his answer from Grobnican; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Tomislav Grdenić 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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. Uljanik Pula have kept their man, and Grobnican go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filip Vajdovčić. 2‑0 against Croatia Zmijavci, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Croatia Zmijavci. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Filip Vajdovčić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Matija Subotić did not need any: 7.91, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grobnican 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 Grobnican 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.
Grobnican asked and HNK Vukovar 1991 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Matija Subotić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Grobnican, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 22 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Nikolić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mario Nikolić 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.
In brief
Boardroom92% of the income goes out in wages at Grobnican
Looking aheadA test against the best for Grobnican
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Grobnican can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Vajdovčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal with Lokomotiva Zagreb is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Tonći Mujan 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everything agreed with Hajduk Split, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Filip Vajdovčić 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. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Grobnican go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Dabić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Grobnican has been clear about where Marko Tešija stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Grobnican know it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Sven Šunta is in the works
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Mateo Jakšić
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grobnican have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Grobnican asked and NK Osijek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A point taken on 95 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Grobnican has been clear about where Stjepan Šalić stands, which is more than many ever get.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Marked 7.96 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
An order from above at Grobnican: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HNK Gorica is saying, and nobody at Grobnican is enjoying the guessing.
Tomislav Grdenić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić 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.
Grobnican asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Antonio Perić
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Uljanik Pula have kept their man, and Grobnican go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Nikolić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ivano Kolarik 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutMario Nikolić knocks on the manager’s door
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić 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.
Grobnican asked and HNK Rijeka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tin Rebic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikola Tadic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tomislav Majer has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Goran Erceg is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Grobnican go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Dabić 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.
Grobnican have made the call to Lokomotiva Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tonći Mujan 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Vajdovčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Grobnican asked and HNK Rijeka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Grobnican have made the call to HNK Gorica. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Grobnican have made the call to NK Osijek. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ivano Kolarik 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić 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.
Grobnican asked and NK Osijek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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.
Grobnican have made the call to NK Osijek. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Grobnican have made the call to NK Celje. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to NK Osijek; Grobnican go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Filip Vajdovčić 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. Rudes have kept their man, and Grobnican go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mato Srna has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Boris Benko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Domagoj Corluka has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tomislav Simunovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Dabić 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 Josip Dabić
Squad8 new faces, and Grobnican are still learning each other
The dugoutAlberto Bačić asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Everything agreed with Orijent 1919, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Fernandes is living that version at Grobnican, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić 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.
Lucas Fernandes is 20, and Grobnican have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Grobnican will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Tonći Mujan 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.
Squad31 May 2027
20 clean sheets and the golden glove for Ivan Kargotić
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 20 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Dabić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vinko Bičanić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
52 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican 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 Grobnican, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grobnican know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić 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 Grobnican know it.
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 Ernis Qestaj is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grobnican know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Filip Vajdovčić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Josip Dabić 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.
Ivano Kolarik 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Ikić signs something — a contract at Grobnican or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grobnican. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Ivano Kolarik 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 Filip Vajdovčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grobnican. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matej Momčilovski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Dabić 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Grobnican may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić 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.
Everybody at Grobnican saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Ernis Qestaj 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grobnican, and 9 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vajdovčić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grobnican. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
52 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Filip Vajdovčić 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Josip Dabić 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ismael Tajjiou has just signed for Grobnican, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ernis Qestaj is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Jakšić 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grobnican, and 9 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fran Vrsaljko after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He is 20, and nobody at Grobnican signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jakov Dedić did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Filip Vajdovčić 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mario Nikolić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
49 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Jakov Dedić, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 8.13
A mark of 8.13 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Tonći Mujan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Nikolić 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Bjelovar next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Biliboc has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tonći Mujan. 2‑0 against Dugo Selo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Tonći Mujan in the middle of it, and Dugo Selo unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Tonći Mujan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Tešija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Tonći Mujan 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ange Chiesa has, at Grobnican, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateo Jakšić, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Dabić 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mario Nikolić will call it something else in private.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Grobnican may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Grobnican close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican 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 Mario Nikolić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Matija Subotić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grobnican can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hajduk Split keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ivano Kolarik 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 Mario Nikolić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Vinko Bičanić.
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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Kustosija were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tin Polić. 1‑0 against Kustosija, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Dabić 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Ivano Kolarik is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Luka Hodak is in the works
At 19 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Aaron Atkinson is living that version at Grobnican, and it tends to show in the first month.
Grobnican asked and HNK Gorica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Grobnican will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Marko Tešija 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grobnican, and 5 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Grobnican have had the benefit of it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Josip Dabić 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.
Lokomotiva Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Niko Šepić is in the works
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Noah Steffen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Josip Dabić 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Grobnican had all but put away. Uljanik Pula will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fran Vrsaljko after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Tonći Mujan 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Steffen 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Matej Momčilovski had Grobnican level again within 4 minutes, and Trnje never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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 Fran Vrsaljko to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Grobnican is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Tonći Mujan 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Steffen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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 watch every Grobnican game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Varteks runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Grobnican will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ivano Kolarik 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 Noah Steffen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Filip Vajdovčić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Ivano Kolarik 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 Noah Steffen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 1, 31 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Fran Vrsaljko was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Grobnican dressing room was either.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutNoah Steffen knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jakov Dedić did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ivano Kolarik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Steffen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fran Vrsaljko on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
The dugoutNoah Steffen knocks on the manager's door
SquadJakov Dedić, 17, is the weekend’s best young player
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tonći Mujan 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 Josip Dabić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Grobnican game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Varteks runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tin Polić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Grobnican needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody at Grobnican 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 shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Steffen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Something was said to Mateo Jakšić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Jakov Dedić decided nobody was going anywhere. Segesta had no time left to answer.
26 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Jakov Dedić, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06
A mark of 8.06 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Grobnican will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Segesta next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Dabić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Lorenzo Biliboc and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Steffen 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 run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ivano Kolarik 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 Noah Steffen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Matija Subotić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad12 Oct 2026
24 new faces, and Grobnican are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Noah Steffen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Jadran Luka Ploce next, and one man in the Grobnican dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Grobnican 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
22 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Jakov Dedić, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
4 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ivano Kolarik is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ivano Kolarik 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Grobnican is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Jakov Dedić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
Boardroom141% of the income goes out in wages at Grobnican
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grobnican will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Matija Subotić did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Tonći Mujan 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 Noah Steffen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Matija Subotić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grobnican will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Grobnican, 1‑0 the final word against Kustosija in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Tonći Mujan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Dropulić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Fran Vrsaljko kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grobnican, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican 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 Noah Steffen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Biliboc has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Sep 2026
24 new faces, and Grobnican are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Grobnican close the window on a squad of their own making
37 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.
Ivano Kolarik and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Noah Steffen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The young player of the month award goes to a 17-year-old at Grobnican who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Grobnican know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grobnican, another week without a signature from Roko Jurjević.
In brief
The dugoutRoko Jurjević knocks on the manager’s door
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Tonći Mujan 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.
Grobnican asked and Segesta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑1 to Solin, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Grobnican training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Dabić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fran Vrsaljko after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Grobnican is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Tešija trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The deal with CFR Cluj 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.
Tonći Mujan 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. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Grobnican go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Dabić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jakov Dedić did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Grobnican know which stage they are at.
21 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mario Nikolić is living that version at Grobnican, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with NK Osijek 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.
Tonći Mujan 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matej Simunovic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mato Majer has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Goran Srna has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grobnican this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Grobnican have made the call to Lokomotiva Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Lokomotiva Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fran Vrsaljko after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Radnik Krizevci in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.