Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnicki 1923 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnicki 1923 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 Radnicki 1923 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Radnicki 1923 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.54, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnicki 1923 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Mehmed Ćosić 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. Radnik Surdulica have kept their man, and Radnicki 1923 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Radnicki 1923 have made the call to Mladost Lucani. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Radnicki 1923 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnicki 1923 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnicki 1923 can pretend not to have heard.
David Buchta 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Buchta. 2‑0 against Javor-Matis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Radnik Surdulica have kept their man, and Radnicki 1923 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Slavia Sofia 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.
Nobody at Radnicki 1923 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Radnicki 1923 are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutEvandro is still being punished for one mistake
The dugoutWajdi Sahli knocks on the manager's door
“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 Radnicki 1923, and it is not being withdrawn.
Radnicki 1923 asked and Crvena Zvezda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnicki 1923 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Radnicki 1923 have made the call to Radnik Surdulica. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Predrag Simic has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Milan Vidakov was one of the reasons people came, and $720.0K does not replace that by itself.
Radnicki 1923 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Legia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tochukwu Ogbadibo has, at Radnicki 1923, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Radnicki 1923 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.
The mood at Radnicki 1923 has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnicki 1923 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Milan Vidakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Radnicki 1923 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnicki 1923 can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Radnicki 1923 have done the hard part with Legia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Haladas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Ognjen Lukić has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Radnicki 1923 is running low.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnicki 1923 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Radnicki 1923, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luka Lijeskić is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Chelsea keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Nobody at Radnicki 1923 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zeleznicar Pancevo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Radnicki 1923 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnicki 1923 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnicki 1923 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnicki 1923 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Radnicki 1923 asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of António Gomes has come up in conversations Radnicki 1923 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ognjen Lukić is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Chizzy Ezenwata is in the works
The dugoutMilan Vidakov has become a man the manager trusts
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnicki 1923 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnicki 1923 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Radnicki 1923, and it is not being withdrawn.
Radnicki 1923 asked and Novi Pazar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
David Buchta 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 offer went to Cukaricki 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.
$36.0K on the table at Mladost Lucani. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Nobody at Radnicki 1923 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves David Buchta exposed
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnicki 1923 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
David Buchta 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 at Radnicki 1923 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.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnicki 1923 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnicki 1923 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnicki 1923 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnicki 1923 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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 Milan Vidakov is on it.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnicki 1923 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnicki 1923 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Khalid Nader has just signed for Radnicki 1923, and for once the answer mattered.
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 David Buchta is on it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Predrag Simic has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 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.” Radnicki 1923 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mehmed Ćosić 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 Slobodan Simović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Radnicki 1923, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Alfa Baldé
The words a physio says slowly. 86 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
David Buchta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Slobodan Simović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luka Lijeskić is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMehmed Ćosić knocks on the manager’s door
The words a physio says slowly. 93 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnicki 1923 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Radnicki 1923 can pretend not to have heard.
David Buchta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mayed Muhsin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Radnicki 1923 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mohamed Cissé
The words a physio says slowly. 101 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnicki 1923 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
David Buchta 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 Mayed Muhsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Radnicki 1923 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.
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.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnicki 1923 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Radnicki 1923 can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
David Buchta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Radnicki 1923 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
David Buchta loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is David Buchta's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
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 Nikola Miličić is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Radnicki 1923 is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mayed Muhsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Milan Vidakov signs something — a contract at Radnicki 1923 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnicki 1923 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnicki 1923 can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mayed Muhsin 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.
Muhamed Šahinović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Milan Vidakov is on it.
131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnicki 1923 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Mehmed Ćosić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Radnicki 1923, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Radnicki 1923 has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
David Buchta 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sasa Vlahovic 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Semir Alić 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Radnicki 1923, another week without a signature from Jon McLaughlin.
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 city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Radnicki 1923 would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“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 Radnicki 1923, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Radnicki 1923 is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnicki 1923 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 Slobodan Simović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Radnicki 1923 know it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It 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.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Slobodan Simović is 37, with 426 appearances behind him, and Radnicki 1923 will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnicki 1923 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Crvena Zvezda go through and Radnicki 1923 go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnicki 1923 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
David Buchta and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Luka Lijeskić 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.
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Mayed Muhsin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say David Buchta is on it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Predrag Simic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Radnicki 1923 dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutEvandro is still being punished for one mistake
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Slobodan Petrovic 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.
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Mayed Muhsin 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Radnicki 1923 pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The bid was some way short and Radnicki 1923 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Radnicki 1923 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.
Radnicki 1923 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Flamengo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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 Radnicki 1923 know it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Radnicki 1923 and Partizan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The name of Bashar Musa has come up in conversations Radnicki 1923 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Marked 8.19 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mayed Muhsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Radnicki 1923, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Buchta 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.
Radnicki 1923 asked and Botafogo 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 Mayed Muhsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 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 1‑2 Predrag Simic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Radnicki 1923 have made the call to Lecco. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Bojan Adžić
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Napredak will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The offer from Tammeka for Milan Vidakov 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.
Radnicki 1923 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at FC Metz, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
David Buchta 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.
A mark of 7.89, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
David Buchta is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The deal with FC Metz 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 Radnicki 1923 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.15. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Radnicki 1923.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mayed Muhsin 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Radnicki 1923 pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.96, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mayed Muhsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Radnicki 1923 dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Uroš Sremčević did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.” Predrag Simic kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Buchta has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Bojan Adžić
SquadA Radnicki 1923 teenager takes the young player award
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Spartak Subotica the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Radnicki 1923 will enjoy reviewing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikola Miličić and Radnicki 1923 agree another 4 years.
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sasa Krsticic 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.
“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 Radnicki 1923, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnicki 1923 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 Mayed Muhsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
OFK Beograd held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Radnicki 1923 answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Something was said to Slobodan Simović and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Luka Lijeskić
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Milan Vidakov takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Milan Vidakov provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Radnicki 1923 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Radnicki 1923 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
David Buchta 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 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mayed Muhsin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Radnicki 1923 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Radnicki 1923 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Buchta 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mayed Muhsin 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Uroš Sremčević did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnicki 1923 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Milos Bogdanovic 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luka Lijeskić
6 goals in one match, Milan Vidakov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Radnicki 1923 and Radnik Surdulica.
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mayed Muhsin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Predrag Simic after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
87% of the income goes out in wages at Radnicki 1923
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Uroš Sremčević provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mayed Muhsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then IMT scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Muhamed Šahinović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Radnicki 1923 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Radnicki 1923 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Radnicki 1923 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 7.99. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Mehmed Ćosić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Radnicki 1923 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
0‑3 to Partizan, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnicki 1923 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aleksandar Gacinovic 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dejan Markovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mayed Muhsin 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.
Milan Vidakov wins it after the whistle should have gone
95 minutes played. Milan Vidakov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Crvena Zvezda went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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; Radnicki 1923 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Milan Vidakov. 2‑1 against Crvena Zvezda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehmed Ćosić, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mayed Muhsin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
Boardroom116% of the income goes out in wages at Radnicki 1923
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Mehmed Ćosić
Position 14 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
David Buchta 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.
12 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Radnicki 1923 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Radnicki 1923, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Radnicki 1923
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Radnicki 1923 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Buchta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mayed Muhsin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Radnicki 1923 asked and FC Metz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Branislav Gacinovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Veljko Matic 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
David Buchta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mayed Muhsin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. TSC had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sheffield Wednesday have kept their man, and Radnicki 1923 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Muhamed Šahinović 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 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Evandro 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.
Radnicki 1923 have made the call to FC Metz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Mehmed Ćosić 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 Mayed Muhsin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 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.
Radnicki 1923 have made the call to Spartak Kostroma. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Alfa Baldé obliged against Napredak. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Radnicki 1923.
Match19 Aug 2026
Alfa Baldé wins it after the whistle should have gone
103 minutes played. Alfa Baldé found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Napredak went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Spartak Subotica for Milan Vidakov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alfa Baldé did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Radnicki 1923 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Hasan Hilu has agreed terms with Vojvodina for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
David Buchta 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 no crueller way to lose a football match. Radnicki 1923 scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Radnicki 1923 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Atletico Venezuela, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnicki 1923 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Radnicki 1923 asked and Watford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Radnicki 1923, another week without a signature from Jon McLaughlin.
Radnicki 1923 have made the call to Panserraikos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
David Buchta 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 easiest signature of my career.” Nikola Miličić and Radnicki 1923 agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andrija Radonjic 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. Stefan Bogdanovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Darko Savic 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. Predrag Sergej 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
BoardroomNobody left the Radnicki 1923 dressing room in a hurry
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Radnicki 1923 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Miličić 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.
61 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.
10 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Freddy Noguera is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Stefan Dragusin is in the works