“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hrvace have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Hrvace 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dubrava have kept their man, and Hrvace 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 Maks Slunjski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Hrvace know which stage they are at.
Hrvace have made the call to NK Varazdin. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Rudes; Hrvace go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Hrvace go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Hrvace training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maks Slunjski 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Hrvace are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Hrvace will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Bruno Putica 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. Hrvace know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Mislav Ivanovic is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Hrvace would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hrvace. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hrvace this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Maks Slunjski falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is not 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.
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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
At 38, 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jarun Zagreb have kept their man, and Hrvace go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Maks Slunjski 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 19-year-old at Hrvace who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Šime Perko, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.64
A mark of 8.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
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.
At 18 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then BSK Bijelo Brdo scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Šime Perko did not need any: 8.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stefan Jovanoski is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Stefan Jovanoski 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Hrvace will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hrvace this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Borna Pausić and Hrvace agree another 2 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Maks Slunjski 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Maks Slunjski'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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Marin Carev scored in the 85th minute, Dugopolje had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Hrvace took the lot.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yevhen Opanasenko and Hrvace agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Maks Slunjski 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 is 19 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Šime Perko is the division's best young player this month
At 18 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Hrvace will try very hard not to make too much of it.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Two goals and a mark of 8.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Maks Slunjski falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
11 combined actions and 7.97. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Bojan Kovacevic on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadŠime Perko is the weekend's best young player
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Borna Pernar, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maks Slunjski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Cibalia next, and one man in the Hrvace dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hrvace 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 Bruno Putica 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.” Ivo Guljelmović has his answer from Hrvace; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Hrvace will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Borna Pausić a promise
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Šime Perko did not need any: 8.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Maik Prinsen is living that version at Hrvace, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maks Slunjski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Borna Pernar. 2‑0 against Jarun Zagreb, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hrvace this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Maks Slunjski falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hrvace told Šime Perko something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Rudes were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marko Cukon did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 21 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.
Position 12, 8 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.
18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Putica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Hrvace is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Hrvace training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maks Slunjski 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.
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.
At 20 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.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Ropar and Hrvace agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Maks Slunjski 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.
Something was said to Ivano Kolarik and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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 1‑3 Bojan Kovacevic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Ivano Kolarik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Hrvace training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maks Slunjski 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: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Bojan Kovacevic chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Šime Perko is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hrvace lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 11 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Hrvace asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Maks Slunjski 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.
Marin Carev 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.
“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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hrvace lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hrvace can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stefan Jovanoski is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Hrvace training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maks Slunjski 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
17 new faces, and Hrvace 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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hrvace lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Hrvace close the window on a squad of their own making
30 in and 24 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
Maks Slunjski falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
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 deal with Mlada Boleslav 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Novi Pazar have kept their man, and Hrvace 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 Maks Slunjski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Hrvace will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
SquadA Hrvace teenager takes the young player award
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Hrvace training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maks Slunjski is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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 0‑1 Bojan Kovacevic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Hrvace will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Hrvace have made the call to Hajduk Split. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maks Slunjski 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 Hrvace this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Sesvete had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hrvace, another week without a signature from Maks Slunjski.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Maks Slunjski has just signed for Hrvace, and for once the answer mattered.
Hrvace asked and NK Varazdin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Maks Slunjski 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.
Leon Jadek 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 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Paul Vranjičić 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Josip Petkov 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. Mislav Kovac 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. Duje Rebic 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. Mislav Ivanovic 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 Hrvace 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 Paul Vranjičić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.