Sime Vlasic 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Sven Šunta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Lucko will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lucko. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Lucko will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 38 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
6 goals in one match, Sime Vlasic on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Lucko and Rudes.
13 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Sven Šunta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 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.
A 2‑0 win over Hrvatski Dragovoljac, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Rudes next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Mario Babić 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.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Josh Keyes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta 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. Sven Šunta 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.
Minute 96, against HNK Rijeka, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lucko is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sime Vlasic 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. Sven Šunta 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Antonio Majcenić will call it something else in private.
It needed Sime Vlasic to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against HNK Vukovar 1991, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
30 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Šime Perko did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Babić 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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 Lucko have no good answer.
Sime Vlasic 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Sven Šunta 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sven Šunta. 1‑0 against Sesvete, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sime Vlasic is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Boris Corluka could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Lucko 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
A brace, and Sime Vlasic takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sime Vlasic provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lucko they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sime Vlasic 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 Mario Babić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Boris Corluka after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
23 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 Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Sven Šunta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.29 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Boris Corluka, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutAntonio Ćaćić dropped after a run of poor form
The dugoutFilip Laškaj has become a man the manager trusts
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Tin Karamatić 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Boris Corluka could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutNiko Modric dropped after a run of poor form
The offer from Isloch for Sven Šunta 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.
Sime Vlasic 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.
Lucko ran out of time with Istra 1961. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Rudes next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Babić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Sime Vlasic had Lucko level again within 1 minutes, and Hrvatski Dragovoljac never got to play with a lead at all.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lucko, another week without a signature from Fran Modric.
It needed Sime Vlasic to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
The dugoutSven Šunta has become a man the manager trusts
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Lucko and Istra 1961 have settled on $110.0K. 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 name of Sven Šunta has come up in conversations Lucko were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Lucko 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.
Lucko had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hajduk Split, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lucko is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Zagreb, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Kristijan Blaževski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
SquadSven Šunta falls out with a teammate over standards
16 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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Lucko did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Karlo Budanović, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.37
A mark of 8.37 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal with HNK Rijeka 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.
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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Hajduk Split; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with Dinamo Zagreb is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dominik Mesić is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vorskla have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
3 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.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Šime Perko did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Kristijan Blaževski 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. Sven Šunta 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. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hajduk Split is saying, and nobody at Lucko is enjoying the guessing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lucko they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sime Vlasic 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. Sven Šunta 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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sven Šunta had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
$78.0K settles it between the clubs for Petar Krišto
Dinamo Zagreb have accepted the money. What Lucko do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Tin Karamatić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Babić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Torpedo-BelAZ for Sven Šunta 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.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
A brace, and Sime Vlasic takes the afternoon — 8.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sime Vlasic provided it, and the 8.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Šime Perko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdoul Salla Camara is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Lucko asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Niko Đolonga has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
In brief
SquadSven Šunta falls out with a teammate over standards
Lucko and HNK Rijeka have settled on $330.0K. 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.
At 22 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.
Kristijan Blaževski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lucko people have started saying his name in the past tense.
At 21 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hajduk Split is saying, and nobody at Lucko is enjoying the guessing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lucko they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Position 2, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lucko can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko 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 Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Shooting Stars had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Lucko and Rudes have settled on $130.0K. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lucko can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Sven Šunta 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 Vilim Šeketa is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAntonio Ćaćić knocks on the manager’s door
Lucko and Slaven Belupo have settled on $53.0K. 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.
Sime Vlasic 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. Mario Babić 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 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lucko is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Lucko have made the call to Hajduk Split. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Lucko have made the call to Hajduk Split. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Sven Šunta is on it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Díaz is living that version at Lucko, 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 Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Sven Šunta 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.
Lucko asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Hajduk Split have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Lucko had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Kristijan Blaževski 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Julian Bytyci has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lucko have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Eugen Ciban
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko 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 Sven Šunta 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 Sven Šunta is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kristijan Blaževski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Babić 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 Filip Laškaj is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lucko, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Sime Vlasic 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. Sven Šunta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Sven Šunta 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.
Tin Karamatić 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lucko is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Babić 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 Lucko 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 2, 32 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.
Kristijan Blaževski 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 Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Lucko 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.
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 Lucko have no good answer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ivan Abramović 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. Mario Babić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Filip Mihaljević is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lucko is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kristijan Blaževski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Sven Šunta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Lucko will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Sime Vlasic 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. Sven Šunta 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 Lucko will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutAntonio Ćaćić asks for a word with the manager
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Babić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Niko Đolonga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko 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 Sven Šunta 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Niko Đolonga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Kristijan Blaževski plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Lucko asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta 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 Sven Šunta is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Babić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ivan Abramović 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 Filip Laškaj is on it.
The deal with NK Osijek is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Sime Vlasic 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.
$370.0K was the most the club would pay and Rudes 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 Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aris Thessaloniki have kept their man, and Lucko 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexey Chernov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lucko the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with NK Domzale 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.
Lucko have gone to Rudes with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Šunta 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.
Lucko asked and CFR Cluj said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Lucko 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 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Imotski waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lucko is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Mario Babić 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.
Lucko have made the call to Aris Thessaloniki. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Antonio Ćaćić
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Niko Đolonga
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rudes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lucko is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Lucko and Rudes have settled on $340.0K. 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.
Sime Vlasic 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. Sven Šunta 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lucko have done the hard part with NK Osijek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer from Rudes for Alexey Chernov 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.
Kristijan Blaževski 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 Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lucko asked and Obolon 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 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 Amir Fayzullaev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Lucko enter the window
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. Lucko will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko 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 Mateo Glavan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lucko have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Šunta 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 Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Tabak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadMateo Glavan is not doing himself any favours
Position 2, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lucko can pretend not to have heard.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Lucko will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Sime Vlasic 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Sven Šunta 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lucko have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Sime Vlasic 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. Lucko will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Babić 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.
Something was said to Alexey Chernov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko 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 Sven Šunta 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 Sven Šunta is on it.
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.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 32 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lucko can pretend not to have heard.
Kristijan Blaževski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Josh Keyes 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Kristijan Blaževski 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. Sven Šunta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.09 — 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Boris Corluka after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Lucko can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Babić 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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Šime Perko is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Boris Corluka after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Lucko can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Tabak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Lucko pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Boris Corluka after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Niko Modric
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Sesvete next, and one man in the Lucko dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Position 2, 26 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.
Sime Vlasic 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. Mario Babić 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout23 Oct 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 Boris Corluka to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lucko told Mario Babić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Lucko 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.
Sime Vlasic 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.
Cibalia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Mario Babić 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Boris Corluka after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Nobody at Lucko 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 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Mihaljević 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.
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Boris Corluka could afford to be generous.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Šime Perko did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Mario Babić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Lucko will try not to make too much of it.
Kristijan Blaževski 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. Mario Babić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sven Šunta is on 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
Slaven Belupo next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Position 2, 19 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A brace, and Sime Vlasic takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sime Vlasic provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko 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 Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sime Vlasic. 2‑0 against Dugopolje, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Boris Corluka, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lucko people have started saying his name in the past tense.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
4‑0, and Šime Perko took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Lucko tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
A brace, and Šime Perko takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Šime Perko provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Lucko close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Šunta 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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deal with Arda 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.
Sime Vlasic 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. Sven Šunta 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. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lucko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Lucko and HNK Gorica have settled on $49.0K. 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.
At 22 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.
Sime Vlasic 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Sven Šunta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Podbrezova have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Lucko 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lucko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have shaken hands with Istra 1961; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lucko have done the hard part with Aris Thessaloniki, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko 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 Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” David Tabak has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Lucko.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Boris Corluka chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lucko can pretend not to have heard.
At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Šunta 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. Egnatia Rrogozhinë have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Niko Tkalčević is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Sime Vlasic 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.
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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Sven Šunta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tomislav Erceg has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Šunta 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. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Lucko 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 Lucko, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have shaken hands with HNK Gorica; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Sime Vlasic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Sven Šunta 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Jul 2028
David Tabak 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.
Position 3, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lucko can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Crvena Zvezda, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Lucko have gone to Slaven Belupo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Sime Vlasic 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 Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Egnatia Rrogozhinë have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Kristijan Blaževski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slaven Belupo have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Sven Šunta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 David Tabak has written the date down.
Lucko had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Slaven Belupo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šunta 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 Sven Šunta is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Lucko are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Niko Đolonga
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ivan Abramović is living that version at Lucko, and it tends to show in the first month.
$540.0K on the table at Slaven Belupo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Sven Šunta 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Bojan Livaja has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lucko have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lucko has been clear about where Vlad Man stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Filip Mihaljević is on it.
In brief
The dugoutLovro Stanić knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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 deal with Dinamo Zagreb is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Sime Vlasic 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 Sven Šunta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to Lokomotiv Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lucko told Alexey Chernov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lucko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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. Lucko will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Kristijan Blaževski 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Sven Šunta 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.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutFrane Runjić knocks on the manager’s door
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lucko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 3, 31 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.
Kristijan Blaževski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Niko Tkalčević, and the manager let it.
Squad8 May 2028
David Tabak 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.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Kristijan Blaževski 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.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Šunta 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.
Mario Babić 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.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lucko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mario Babić 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 David Tabak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lucko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sime Vlasic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vilim Šeketa is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 81 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Sime Vlasic 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 David Tabak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Lucko will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutFrane Runjić asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Filip Mihaljević is on it.
Filip Horvat damages knee ligaments — 103 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 103 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Kristijan Blaževski 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad13 Mar 2028
David Tabak 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
The dugoutNiko Tkalčević asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutVilim Šeketa has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Lucko know it.
Nobody at Lucko 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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Mario Babić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sven Šunta is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Ćaćić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lucko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Tabak 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.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Tabak knocks on the manager's door
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 3, 31 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.
Sime Vlasic 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. David Tabak 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Lucko close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Sime Vlasic 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. Slaven Belupo have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Lucko ran out of time with Hajduk Split. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never 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.
Lucko spent the window trying to move Lovro Stanić on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Tabak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Lucko 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lucko have done the hard part with NK Varazdin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Osijek have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad24 Jan 2028
David Tabak 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 Filip Mihaljević is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with Hajduk Split 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lucko, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vilim Šeketa is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Lucko know it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of David Tabak
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Lucko had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Lucko have made the call to Plateau United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Sven Šunta is on it.