108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Opatija lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Opatija can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Dino Kapitanović 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. Hrvace have kept their man, and Opatija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Rodin 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hrvace keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
Opatija asked and NK Osijek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Dinamo Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Opatija would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Opatija and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Nusret Shehu are not good
Opatija offered $43.0K; Dubrava said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Rodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
The dugoutRidwan Hassan knocks on the manager's door
The deal with Mlada Boleslav is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Dubrava this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Opatija asked and Lokomotiva 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 Nikola Rodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Josip Zeljković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Dino Kapitanović 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. Jarun Zagreb have kept their man, and Opatija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Opatija have made the call to NK Varazdin. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Mlada Boleslav: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Josip Zeljković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Opatija will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Dino Kapitanović 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 Nikola Rodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Opatija will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutVal Bogolin has become a man the manager trusts
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.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Charly Silva has just signed for Opatija, and for once the answer mattered.
“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 Opatija know it.
Charly Silva is 20, and Opatija 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrik Prodanović signs something — a contract at Opatija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 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.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ridwan Hassan 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.
Ridwan Hassan 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rhys Walsh 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 Patrik Prodanović signs something — a contract at Opatija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Opatija will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Opatija would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Ridwan Hassan 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Opatija are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Josip Zeljković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Dino Kapitanović 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 Apr 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rhys Walsh 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 Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Opatija 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Opatija will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Opatija. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tadej Bonaca trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rhys Walsh 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Filip Krušelj is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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; Opatija are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rhys Walsh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samuel Sousa is 20, and Opatija 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.
Everybody at Opatija saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 41 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Leon Brlek 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 medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Nikition Delijaj, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad29 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Opatija 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Goodness Ajayi signs something — a contract at Opatija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rajan Žlibanović is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Groznica 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.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Opatija 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 Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luka Hrvojević is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ridwan Hassan is living that version at Opatija, and it tends to show in the first month.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Opatija know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Groznica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Opatija would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Goodness Ajayi signs something — a contract at Opatija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Opatija lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Dino Kapitanović 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 Gabriel Groznica 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.” Opatija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Opatija has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Opatija. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Opatija, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Goodness Ajayi reports back to Opatija with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it 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 Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Rhys Walsh 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 year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Opatija would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Opatija know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Opatija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Opatija close the window on a squad of their own making
3 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.
“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 Opatija know it.
Josip Zeljković 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Gabriel Groznica 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rhys Walsh 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.
Opatija have made the call to HNK Rijeka. 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 Opatija, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Zabbar St. Patrick for Goodness Ajayi 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Opatija have done the hard part with Hajduk Split, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Opatija 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.
Dino Kapitanović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luka Hrvojević is living that version at Opatija, and it tends to show in the first month.
The phone has started ringing about Goodness Ajayi again, and this time the name on the line is Zabbar St. Patrick. Opatija are listening politely and promising nothing.
Everything agreed with HNK Rijeka, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Opatija asked and Rudes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rhys Walsh 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Goodness Ajayi 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sohaib El Idrissi has, at Opatija, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. BSK Bijelo Brdo have kept their man, and Opatija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
0‑2 to Cibalia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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 0‑2 Sime Grbic left the room before anybody could ask which.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Opatija had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Paul Bismarck Tabinas 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. Jarun Zagreb have kept their man, and Opatija go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Opatija has been clear about where Goodness Ajayi stands, which is more than many ever get.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dubrava scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
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.
Dino Kapitanović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrik Prodanović has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marin Vučković. 2‑1 against Hrvace, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sime Grbic kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Gabriel Groznica will call it something else in private.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Opatija had all but put away. Jarun Zagreb will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rhys Walsh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Tin Polić has come out of that comparison in the side, and Opatija have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sime Grbic after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Dino Kapitanović 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Opatija can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sime Grbic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Rhys Walsh 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 Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Tin Polić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
Minute 92, against Rudes, 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sime Grbic was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Opatija dressing room was either.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Paul Bismarck Tabinas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rhys Walsh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Opatija are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrik Prodanović signs something — a contract at Opatija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Opatija have gone and got theirs early.
Nobody at Opatija will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Opatija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Dino Kapitanović 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 Rhys Walsh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
Nikola Rodin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
10 new faces, and Opatija 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 dugout2 Nov 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 0‑2 Sime Grbic left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Filip Krušelj
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Filip Krušelj has come out of that comparison in the side, and Opatija have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Opatija, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rhys Walsh is living that version at Opatija, and it tends to show in the first month.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and BSK Bijelo Brdo were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrik Prodanović 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.
Position 7, 13 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Opatija training over how hard people work
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Val Bogolin did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikition Delijaj is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sime Grbic after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
SquadAndro Švrljuga falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Val Bogolin
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Leon Brlek
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Filip Krušelj is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
Something was said to Paul Bismarck Tabinas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nusret Shehu 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 used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cibalia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Filip Krušelj delivers — 7.43
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Filip Krušelj scored, was marked 7.43, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Dino Kapitanović 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 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Opatija and Dubrava in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rajan Žlibanović is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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 Opatija know it.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 40 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Opatija is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sime Grbic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nusret Shehu 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 team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Dugopolje.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Hrvace? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Josip Bartulić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Opatija needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 15. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
Opatija asked and Spartak Subotica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
9 combined actions and 6.61. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout14 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 0‑2 Sime Grbic left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija 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 Andro Švrljuga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hrvace in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“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 Opatija, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Opatija close the window on a squad of their own making
25 in and 15 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rudes have kept their man, and Opatija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Josip Zeljković and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and Opatija 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.
Tadej Bonaca is 20, and Opatija 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. David Nwolokor is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andro Švrljuga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Opatija had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Torpedo-BelAZ, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slaven Belupo have kept their man, and Opatija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 loan enquiry to Spartak Subotica: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Opatija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nusret Shehu 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrik Prodanović did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Opatija had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at NK Osijek, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Opatija asked and PAOK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marin Vučković has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dino Kapitanović. 2‑0 against Karlovac 1919, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luka Duduković is living that version at Opatija, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Dino Kapitanović 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.
Opatija asked and Lokomotiva 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Opatija are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dino Kapitanović has, at Opatija, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Opatija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Opatija asked and HNK Rijeka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Darijo Simunovic 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hrvoje Stanisic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tomislav Vlasic 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. Filip Kasalo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Opatija are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 Opatija know it.
Rajan Žlibanović 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 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 1‑2 Sime Grbic left the room before anybody could ask which.