Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Andraž Borovnik scored in the 85th minute, Brinje Grosuplje had already begun thinking about the journey home, and NK Krka took the lot.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Krka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andraž Borovnik. 3‑2 against Brinje Grosuplje, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Miljan Pantić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. NK Krka have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around NK Krka are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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 NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout17 Jan 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Timi Kurtovic to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutDomen Žur is still paying for one afternoon at NK Krka
“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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at NK Krka, and it is not being withdrawn.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Niko Domjanić was one of the reasons people came, and $210.0K does not replace that by itself.
Andraž Lipec and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There 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. NK Krka will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Andraž Lipec and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The phone has started ringing about Dominik Iskrić again, and this time the name on the line is Bilje. NK Krka are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Miljan Pantić 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.
NK Krka have made the call to Olimpija Ljubljana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at NK Krka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Čanađija 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 NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation NK Krka are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Timi Kurtovic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Krka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miljan Pantić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Timi Kurtovic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timotej Drobež did not need any: 9.56, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
Andraž Lipec and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dominik Iskrić 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Krka, and 7 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Timotej Drobež
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Timi Kurtovic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Krka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miljan Pantić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Timotej Drobež. 2‑1 against Bistrica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Žan Kovačevič has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Krka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Krka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Maciej Zając and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bistrica in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timotej Drobež did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timotej Drobež did not need any: 8.38, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Andraž Lipec was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miljan Pantić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Timotej Drobež 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 is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Rudar Velenje were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Dario Čanađija
BoardroomWages eat 121% of everything NK Krka earn
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 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 NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at NK Krka can tell you which week it ends in.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Krka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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.
0‑1 to ND Gorica, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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 Timi Kurtovic to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Krka 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 Miljan Pantić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every NK Krka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jesenice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at NK Krka 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.
ND Gorica next, and one man in the NK Krka dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
11 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Krka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dario Čanađija and NK Krka agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Timi Kurtovic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
1‑4 to Brinje Grosuplje, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Krka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7.20, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Timi Kurtovic to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Krka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Žan Kovačevič did not need any: 8.05, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between NK Krka and Slovan Ljubljana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miljan Pantić 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Andraž Lipec 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 Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Timi Kurtovic after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Krka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at NK Krka 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Koper moved on, Niko Domjanić reports back to NK Krka, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Andraž Lipec 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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. Legia have kept their man, and NK Krka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Tilen Mlakar damages knee ligaments — 121 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 121 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Krka 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 NK Krka 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 Miljan Pantić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
A 1‑0 win over Brinje Grosuplje, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Krka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Patrik Klarić has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means NK Krka have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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. NK Krka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Marked 7.66 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Žan Kovačevič 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.
Legia 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Timi Kurtovic kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Krka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Miljan Pantić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
$650.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Krka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Krka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
He is going to Olimpija Ljubljana, the club has $650.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
10 seasons and 136 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Jesenice will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Harry Bridle has pre-agreed a move to NK Krka, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Krka 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 Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Krka, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Timi Kurtovic to a room that had heard them before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Krka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Primorje for Kenan Hadžibegović 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.
Andraž Lipec 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.
6 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Miljan Pantić 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. ND Gorica have kept their man, and NK Krka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Erik Handanovic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rok Elsnik has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luka Balkovec is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
BoardroomNK Krka turn down the training-ground plan
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Krka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Krka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Andraž Lipec was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The phone has started ringing about Kenan Hadžibegović again, and this time the name on the line is Primorje. NK Krka are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Čanađija 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. SKA Khabarovsk have kept their man, and NK Krka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
NK Krka asked and Dugopolje said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. NK Krka know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Krka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Žan Kovačevič is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Celje have kept their man, and NK Krka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Maciej Zając and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Leon Bičanić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A loan enquiry to BSK Bijelo Brdo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad28 Jun 2027
5 new faces, and NK Krka are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The phone has started ringing about Tai Meze again, and this time the name on the line is Jesenice. NK Krka are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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.
Tai Meze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He 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.
“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.
The offer from Dravinja for Jure Judež 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.
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.
Tai Meze 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Leon Bičanić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
NK Krka have made the call to Ilirija 1911. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Olimpija Ljubljana 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. NK Krka have done the hard part with Koper, 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 NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Niko Domjanić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I 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 NK Krka will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Aleksa Petrović has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NK Krka told Domen Žur something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timotej Drobež trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Andraž Lipec and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. NK Krka will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Maciej Zając is 20, and NK Krka have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
In brief
The dugoutLeon Bičanić asks for a word with the manager
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Krka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Iskrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Andraž Borovnik has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Krka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at NK Krka. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody to talk to at the next peg, a few words of the language, and a training ground that has stopped being a foreign country. It never appears in a scouting report and it decides most signings.
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Žan Kovačevič trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tilen Mlakar is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andraž Lipec signs something — a contract at NK Krka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 5 on 41 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Krka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Andraž Lipec 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Krka, and 5 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Krka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timotej Drobež signs something — a contract at NK Krka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Andraž Lipec and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gregor Medle signs something — a contract at NK Krka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Roko Domjanić has moved up 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.
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 Andraž Borovnik has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Krka, and 5 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jaša Hribar has his answer from NK Krka; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timotej Drobež signs something — a contract at NK Krka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Andraž Borovnik has written the date down.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. NK Krka would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at NK Krka has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gregor Medle signs something — a contract at NK Krka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Niko Domjanić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; NK Krka are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dominik Iskrić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
Position 5 on 41 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timotej Drobež did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Andraž Lipec was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Kevin Cerin decided otherwise. Bistrica had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Andraž Lipec and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Dominik Iskrić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mark Gliha has just signed for NK Krka, and for once the answer mattered.
The shirt still fits. Mark Gliha is back at NK Krka, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Gregor Medle.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Timotej Drobež did not need any: 8.22, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between NK Krka and Triglav Kranj, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 3‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Krka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
Marko Brkić has gone, the accounts have $550.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
1 for Dario Čanađija, marked 7.75, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at NK Krka until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Radomlje is saying, and nobody at NK Krka is enjoying the guessing.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Jure Judež has agreed terms with NK Domzale for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Primorje paid $550.0K and NK Krka took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artemijus Tutyškinas 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 Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Krka, and 5 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Transfer targetsA loan move for Borna Graonić is in the works
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and NK Krsko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Krka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nik Kapun scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.60 for the rest of it.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija 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. Mlada Boleslav have kept their man, and NK Krka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Žan Kovačevič did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Luka Čadež was one of the reasons people came, and $660.0K does not replace that by itself.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Krka 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 Domen Žur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mark Gliha
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Krka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Nik Kapun, marked 7.66, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Andraž Lipec 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Žan Baskera takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Žan Baskera provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Andraž Lipec 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 Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Žan Baskera. 2‑1 against Jesenice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
Gregor Medle had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Rudar Velenje were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
7.86, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Iskrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Timi Kurtovic after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Beltinci, and it could have been more.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Gregor Medle takes the afternoon — 8.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gregor Medle provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Timotej Drobež, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Dominik Iskrić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑1, Timi Kurtovic could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Krka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Gregor Medle has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
In brief
The dugoutTilen Mlakar dropped after a run of poor form
7.84, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at NK Krka, another week without a signature from Andraž Borovnik.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Timi Kurtovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Darko Marjanović has his answer from NK Krka; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
SquadTimotej Drobež, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at NK Krka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Tilen Mlakar 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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Žan Baskera 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Timotej Drobež in the middle of it, and Dravinja unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Krka, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Andraž Lipec’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and NK Krka needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Andraž Lipec 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at NK Krka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Timotej Drobež, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Timotej Drobež 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.
“I did not go to Brinje Grosuplje to sit and watch. I want to come back to NK Krka and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Timi Kurtovic, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tai Meze, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Timi Kurtovic to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
SquadDominik Iskrić falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Dominik Iskrić
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.
Kevin Cerin 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
13 new faces, and NK Krka are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
Triglav Kranj next, and one man in the NK Krka dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Krka know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
0‑3 to Tabor Sežana, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Andraž Lipec 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Čanađija is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Nik Kapun, marked 7.44, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“I watch every NK Krka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Brinje Grosuplje runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Timi Kurtovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominik Iskrić 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 NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Čanađija was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Ilirija 1911 had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and NK Krka 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and NK Krka are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Timi Kurtovic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the NK Krka dressing room was either.
Ilirija 1911 next, and one man in the NK Krka dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Krka know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Mark Gliha
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at NK Krka, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal with NK Maribor 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Iskrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Tilen Kovačić has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Krka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
NK Krka asked and Mura said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Minute 86, against Slovan Ljubljana, 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.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Andraž Lipec's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Luka Perković decided nobody was going anywhere. Tabor Sežana had no time left to answer.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Žan Kovačevič, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.67
A mark of 7.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
NK Krka asked and Wieczysta Kraków said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 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.
The shirt still fits. Andraž Borovnik is back at NK Krka, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Andraž Lipec 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.
NK Krka asked and NK Maribor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. NK Krka know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Dominik Iskrić scored in the 87th minute, Beltinci had already begun thinking about the journey home, and NK Krka took the lot.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Žan Baskera has just signed for NK Krka, and for once the answer mattered.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Andraž Lipec 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.
NK Krka asked and NK Celje said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Bičanić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Timi Kurtovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
NK Krka have made the call to Rudar Velenje. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.