The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Maj Mittendorfer 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 had been thinking. Veljko Mijailović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
The words a physio says slowly. 73 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
6 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.
Match22 Sep 2029
Another one collected away from home
7 on the bounce on the road for Koper. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-Pierre Longonda 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Leo Rimac 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Koper will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
The words a physio says slowly. 80 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Two goals and a mark of 9.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Veljko Mijailović 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.
Half the programme played, position 4, 19 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Koper know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leo Rimac provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Stipe Modric is a Koper player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have shaken hands with NK Maribor; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at Koper 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hasaacas is saying, and nobody at Koper is enjoying the guessing.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 101 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from NK Zavrc for Leo Rimac 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Veljko Mijailović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Leo Rimac 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 words a physio says slowly. 109 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Koper and NK Maribor have settled on $1.8M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The phone has started ringing about Leo Rimac again, and this time the name on the line is NK Zavrc. Koper are listening politely and promising nothing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match18 Aug 2029
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Koper. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Veljko Mijailović 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.
Koper asked and Zenit 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 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 Koper know it.
116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Smouha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Koper is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Maj Mittendorfer 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. Orenburg have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 123 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Koper people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to NK Maribor this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Milian Jansson has just signed for Koper, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Veljko Mijailović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The words a physio says slowly. 130 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from NK Zavrc for Leo Rimac 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Koper people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Koper and Olimpija Ljubljana have settled on $870.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
$1.9M was the most the club would pay and NK Maribor were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
137 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 18 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 Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The words a physio says slowly. 144 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Koper, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 151 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Koper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Koper heard it as anything else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Krka have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Haris Mujanić is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 Edoardo Piana is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 158 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
41 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.
“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 Koper, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ryley Reynolds is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonard Vuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 165 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Koper people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Koper have done the hard part with NK Maribor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Koper asked and NK Krsko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper 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. Enzo Ngoma is living that version at Koper, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Kamil Manseri 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Koper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tommy McNally has just signed for Koper, and for once the answer mattered.
NK Domzale will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Robert Ilicic has pre-agreed a move to Koper, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Haris Mujanić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Koper had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Olimpija Ljubljana will make the call about Leo Rimac this week. Koper have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brice Negouai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Koper heard it as anything else.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kamil Manseri has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Maj Mittendorfer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Leo Rimac 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Zois Karargyris is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Anestis Mythou is in the works
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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. Koper will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The one award nobody else on the pitch can win goes to Edoardo Piana, on 14 clean sheets across the season. Keepers wait a career for a season like it.
Squad28 May 2029
Kamil Manseri 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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Koper, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper 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 Brice Negouai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Check Oumar Diakité is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leo Rimac signs something — a contract at Koper or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Pierce Sweeney has written the date down.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Maj Mittendorfer has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
SquadDuje Slatina is not doing himself any favours
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leonard Vuk 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Koper will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 Bassirou Ndiaye is on it.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Maj Mittendorfer 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 Kamil Manseri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Žan Majer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Koper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Žan Majer, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Leo Rimac 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 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 Check Oumar Diakité is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leo Rimac signs something — a contract at Koper or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Rimac is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Koper have no good answer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 68 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
41 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 Koper 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.” Florian Hartherz and Koper agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Kamil Manseri 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 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 Bassirou Ndiaye is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.” Florian Hartherz and Koper agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Leo Rimac 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.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper 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 Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leo Rimac trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leo Rimac signs something — a contract at Koper or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 89 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Žan Majer, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Brice Negouai 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Bassirou Ndiaye has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Maj Mittendorfer 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 had been thinking. Leo Rimac is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Koper 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.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Leo Rimac 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.
6 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Koper, another week without a signature from Matic Ferk.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksej Šutalo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Koper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper 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 Brice Negouai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leo Rimac signs something — a contract at Koper 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 Koper. 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 Duje Slatina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Kamil Manseri’s negotiating for him
Edoardo Piana 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 Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Nicolas Rajsel has written the date down.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Koper could ask drops and the wages Leo Štulac can ask rise.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Toni Cvrlje are not good
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Maj Mittendorfer 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 had been thinking. Leo Rimac 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.
Koper asked and Southampton 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 deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Koper will try again when the window opens; Olimpija Ljubljana may not be selling by then.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The name of Leo Rimac has come up in conversations Koper were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Koper close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 5 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.
The deal with Olimpija Ljubljana 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Koper heard it as anything else.
Maj Mittendorfer 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. Olimpija Ljubljana have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Filip Damjanović has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Koper have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamil Manseri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Feyenoord 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Rimac 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Koper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportivo Tachira runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Olimpija Ljubljana for Leo Štulac 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Koper 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Koper are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Check Oumar Diakité trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
41 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Koper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Koper can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Maj Mittendorfer 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 had been thinking. Check Oumar Diakité 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 Pierce Sweeney
Transfer targetsA loan move for Perica Guskić is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Josip Kilić has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Maj Mittendorfer 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 Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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. Koper will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Check Oumar Diakité 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.
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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Koper hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Joshua Muwana arrives at Koper with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
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 Tadej Trajkovski has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Koper people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Maj Mittendorfer 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 had been thinking. Leo Rimac 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Koper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Maj Mittendorfer 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 Leo Rimac 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Žan Majer is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maj Mittendorfer 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.
Match22 Nov 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Koper. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 41 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Žan Majer 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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 38 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
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.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Fran Tomek scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Koper hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper 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 Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Žan Majer 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 Maj Mittendorfer 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Leo Rimac has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.40 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Leo Rimac
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 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. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maj Mittendorfer 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. NK Maribor had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Pierce Sweeney is living that version at Koper, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper 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 Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Koper will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper 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 Maj Mittendorfer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Koper will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Koper prefer.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maj Mittendorfer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.55 — 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Koper will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Žan Majer 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Leo Rimac falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Koper will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maj Mittendorfer 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kamil Manseri
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Koper will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Koper had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Chelsea, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
NK Maribor will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Guti has pre-agreed a move to Koper, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Koper people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Koper have done the hard part with NK Maribor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AEK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Leo Rimac 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.
Koper asked and NK Maribor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Koper had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Baltika, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maj Mittendorfer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from NK Zavrc for Szymon Pankiewicz 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maj Mittendorfer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Koper asked and Olimpija Ljubljana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of Haris Mujanić has come up in conversations Koper were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Everything agreed with Feyenoord, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Manchester City keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Koper hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Edoardo Piana 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Edoardo Piana has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from NK Maribor for Brice Negouai 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with BATE 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.
Žan Majer 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Haris Mujanić is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Novi Pazar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Koper is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Koper moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Kevin Cerin, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Žan Majer 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 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Fran Tomek has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The name of Brice Negouai has come up in conversations Koper were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
In brief
SquadWords at Koper training over how hard people work
Koper and NK Maribor have settled on $95.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Baltika keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Edoardo Piana is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Koper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Baltika 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.
Koper had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Edoardo Piana wants continental football; whether Koper can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maj Mittendorfer 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.
“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 Koper, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Iquique for Haris Mujanić 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.
$43.0K was the most the club would pay and NK Celje were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Rimac 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.
Koper asked and NK Maribor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Žan Majer 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.
$88.0K was the most the club would pay and NK Celje were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Koper asked and Rubin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Haris Mujanić again, and this time the name on the line is Rudes. Koper are listening politely and promising nothing.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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 Check Oumar Diakité is on it.
In brief
The dugoutLeo Štulac asks for a word with the manager
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Koper offered $130.0K; NK Maribor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maj Mittendorfer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brogan Popham is 19, and Koper 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Koper people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Koper offered $1.3M; Olimpija Ljubljana said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-Pierre Longonda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Haris Mujanić has his answer from Koper; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Olimpija Ljubljana this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Brkljača will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Koper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Žan Majer 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 phone has started ringing about Brown Irabor again, and this time the name on the line is NK Maribor. Koper are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Pierre Longonda 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Pierce Sweeney has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Koper have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Žan Majer 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 Jean-Pierre Longonda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Check Oumar Diakité is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Bassirou Ndiaye has written the date down.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nathan Paul-Lavaly may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Haris Mujanić 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.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Koper told James Connolly something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 4, 32 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Brown Irabor is on it.
Leo Rimac has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
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 Florian Hartherz has written the date down.
“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 Koper, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Žan Majer 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 Jean-Pierre Longonda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Edoardo Piana signs something — a contract at Koper or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Žan Majer 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.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Koper would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Koper than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-Pierre Longonda 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.
Something was said to Josip Kilić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 4, 32 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maj Mittendorfer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Žan Majer 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nathan Paul-Lavaly is living that version at Koper, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Pierre Longonda is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Maj Mittendorfer 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 Leo Rimac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 0 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at Koper argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leo Rimac trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Check Oumar Diakité is on it.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brown Irabor will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Koper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 had been thinking. Maj Mittendorfer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 4 on 32 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
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 Bassirou Ndiaye has written the date down.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Koper are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutBrown Irabor has become a man the manager trusts
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-Pierre Longonda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Patrik Volarević is 19, and Koper 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Isaac Matondo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Brkljača will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Koper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Žan Majer 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 had been thinking. Jean-Pierre Longonda 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 Koper, and 0 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad6 Mar 2028
6 new faces, and Koper 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Koper, another week without a signature from Leo Štulac.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper 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.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Koper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rok Janza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
32 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Out, 0‑1 to Olimpija Ljubljana, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows 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 Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-Pierre Longonda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Kevin Cerin to a room that had heard them before.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marin Modrić has, at Koper, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-Pierre Longonda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Koper asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
James Connolly 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.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maj Mittendorfer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Celje have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every Koper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lokomotiv runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
5 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Brkljača will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Koper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Pierre Longonda is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Koper will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Koper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brown Irabor will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Koper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Domzale have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Edoardo Piana 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 words a physio says slowly. 119 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maj Mittendorfer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Koper asked and Olimpija Ljubljana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Rok Stojanovic 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 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 Bassirou Ndiaye is on it.
“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.
126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Koper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Olimpija Ljubljana for Luka Guček 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Brown Irabor has agreed terms with Olimpija Ljubljana for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Žan Majer 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.
Koper asked and ND 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.
“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 Koper, and 2 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Atanas Kehayov is 20, and Koper 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 134 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Žan Majer 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 phone has started ringing about Luka Guček again, and this time the name on the line is Olimpija Ljubljana. Koper are listening politely and promising nothing.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jack Fanning has, at Koper, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Koper 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 Koper 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 James Connolly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Pierre Longonda 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 done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Koper will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutŽan Majer asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutBrown Irabor has become a man the manager trusts
SquadRenato Marin is not doing himself any favours
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper 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 Jean-Pierre Longonda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Žan Majer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Filip Bijol is living that version at Koper, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Leo Štulac 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.
Filip Bijol is 20, and Koper 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” James Connolly has his answer from Koper; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Koper 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.
Maj Mittendorfer 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Koper 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.
Position 4 on 32 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
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 Florian Hartherz has written the date down.
32 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
A brace, and Isaac Matondo takes the afternoon — 9.27
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Isaac Matondo provided it, and the 9.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
Player ratingsJoseph Mangondo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
4‑1, and Isaac Matondo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Koper tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
A brace, and Isaac Matondo takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Isaac Matondo provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Fran Tomek scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Štulac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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. 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Leo Rimac has come out of that comparison in the side, and Koper have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Koper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It 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.
Shots: 13. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Koper man