1 for Junior Bita, marked 7.47, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Radnik Krizevci have done the hard part with Dugo Selo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Junior Bita 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.
Radnik Krizevci 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Karlo Taslak 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.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Everything agreed with NK Osijek, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ivan Omazić reports back to Radnik Krizevci with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Junior Bita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Taslak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnik Krizevci 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 Radnik Krizevci 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. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak 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.
Radnik Krizevci have made the call to NK Osijek. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Radnik Krizevci, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Radnik Krizevci people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitatea Craiova have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Karlo Taslak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Radnik Krizevci have made the call to Universitatea Craiova. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Radnik Krizevci can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Ivan Katić 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 Karlo Taslak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Radnik Krizevci, another week without a signature from Toni Vidović.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Kévin Williams is in the works
Filip Grabovac 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Radnik Krizevci asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Taslak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Radnik Krizevci are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Radnik Krizevci have made the call to NK Celje. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Antonio Marić’s negotiating for him
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnik Krizevci 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 Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Radnik Krizevci are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Radnik Krizevci asked and Karlovac 1919 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Karlo Taslak 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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Radnik Krizevci could ask drops and the wages Toni Vidović can ask rise.
“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 Radnik Krizevci, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Taslak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Radnik Krizevci have made the call to Jadran Luka Ploce. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Radnik Krizevci can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Everything agreed with HNK Vukovar 1991, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Junior Bita and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alan Wiśniewski has just signed for Radnik Krizevci, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Taslak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Radnik Krizevci, another week without a signature from Toni Vidović.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Radnik Krizevci have had the benefit of it.
Junior Bita 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Radnik Krizevci now.
Squad29 May 2028
Karlo Taslak 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 Lucas Taverna is on it.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Radnik Krizevci could ask drops and the wages Antonio Marić can ask rise.
Position 3, 44 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Ivan Ćubelić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnik Krizevci can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Ćubelić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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; Radnik Krizevci are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Toni Vidović 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stanislav Kritsyuk and Radnik Krizevci agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj 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 Radnik Krizevci 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 year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Radnik Krizevci would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Radnik Krizevci could ask drops and the wages Allen Sombi Kelo can ask rise.
Toni Vidović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Radnik Krizevci, another week without a signature from Allen Sombi Kelo.
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 Radnik Krizevci would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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 Lucas Taverna is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Position 3, 44 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Radnik Krizevci 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 Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Ćubelić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Radnik Krizevci has been clear about where Hugo Lamouliatte stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Maciej Zając is on it.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Radnik Krizevci will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“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 Radnik Krizevci, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dimitris Thomaidis has just signed for Radnik Krizevci, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakov-Anton Vasilj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“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; Radnik Krizevci are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Junior Bita and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Radnik Krizevci can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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 Radnik Krizevci will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Radnik Krizevci, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Petek has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Radnik Krizevci have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Junior Bita 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 accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Ivan Ćubelić 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and David Petek 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Toni Vidović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lucas Taverna is on it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Radnik Krizevci 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 Radnik Krizevci 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 Jakov-Anton Vasilj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Radnik Krizevci will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 Maciej Zając is on it.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Radnik Krizevci could ask drops and the wages Toni Vidović can ask rise.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Radnik Krizevci, another week without a signature from Allen Sombi Kelo.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Radnik Krizevci are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Toni Vidović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak 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 Radnik Krizevci, another week without a signature from Antonio Marić.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Radnik Krizevci will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nobody at Radnik Krizevci will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
0‑4 against Mladost Zdralovi, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Junior Bita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj 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 Radnik Krizevci, another week without a signature from Toni Vidović.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Matej Bilic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Filip Grabovac wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Filip Grabovac found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Kustosija went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filip Grabovac. 2‑1 against Kustosija, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Allen Sombi Kelo 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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Matej Bilic could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Patrick Pejić
The dugoutIvan Ćubelić has become a man the manager trusts
Junior Bita and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Radnik Krizevci will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Something was said to Stanislav Kritsyuk and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Radnik Krizevci close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 2 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.
Ivan Katić 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The 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.
“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; Radnik Krizevci are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Radnik Krizevci asked and Varteks said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Solin had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Uljanik Pula will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Radnik Krizevci were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.63 — 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Karlovac 1919 have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakov-Anton Vasilj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cibalia have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“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 Radnik Krizevci know it.
A loan enquiry to HNK Vukovar 1991: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 Ivan Ćubelić is on it.
Junior Bita and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj 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.
9 combined actions and 7.03. 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Matej Bilic to a room that had heard them before.
“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 Radnik Krizevci, and it is not being withdrawn.
Junior Bita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A brace, and Lenny Ilečić takes the afternoon — 8.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lenny Ilečić provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Radnik Krizevci, 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 Radnik Krizevci is running low.
Junior Bita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Radnik Krizevci have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Junior Bita and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
A 1‑0 win over Djakovo Croatia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Bjelovar; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak 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 Radnik Krizevci 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci 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 Jakov-Anton Vasilj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lenny Ilečić 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: Lenny Ilečić. 1‑0 against Opatija, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Toni Vidović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Radnik Krizevci can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Taslak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnik Krizevci can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Radnik Krizevci have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Junior Bita 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Karlo Taslak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Jadran Luka Ploce scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“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 Radnik Krizevci will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Matković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 6, 22 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.
Something was said to Luka Matković and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Toni Vidović
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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci 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 Karlo Taslak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Toni Vidović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say David Petek is on it.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Junior Bita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak 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 87. Lucko had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Ivan Katić 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Luka Matković falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 7.41 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Radnik Krizevci had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Matej Bilic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Radnik Krizevci dressing room was either.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Karlo Taslak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lenny Ilečić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.59 — 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.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Radnik Krizevci have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Junior Bita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Matković 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Solin in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Radnik Krizevci 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Junior Bita 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.” Stanislav Kritsyuk and Radnik Krizevci agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Radnik Krizevci can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Antonio Marić 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 Karlo Taslak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Radnik Krizevci will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Radnik Krizevci have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Antonio Marić 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.
Radnik Krizevci asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Luka Matković 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Ivan Katić 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.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Radnik Krizevci 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 had been thinking. Karlo Taslak is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Radnik Krizevci told Jakov-Anton Vasilj something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Filip Bosak
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Radnik Krizevci have done the hard part with Portuguesa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Krsko have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
A brace, and David Petek takes the afternoon — 8.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Petek provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.53 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Radnik Krizevci 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Vukovar 1991 have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The deal with Hajduk Split is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dugo Selo have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Radnik Krizevci have made the call to Dugo Selo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Junior Bita 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.
Radnik Krizevci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak 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.
9 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.
Radnik Krizevci have made the call to Istra 1961. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The 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.
Radnik Krizevci asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Radnik Krizevci know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hajduk Split keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov-Anton Vasilj 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.
“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; Radnik Krizevci are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Uljanik Pula have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Radnik Krizevci have done the hard part with Hajduk Split, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Milan Boric 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. Mario Rebic 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.
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnik Krizevci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Bita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Radnik Krizevci are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Hajduk Split have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Allen Sombi Kelo is 19, and Radnik Krizevci have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Marić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Radnik Krizevci is enjoying the guessing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Radnik Krizevci have done the hard part with Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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.
Radnik Krizevci asked and HNK Gorica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Bita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Radnik Krizevci can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Radnik Krizevci 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 Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Karlo Taslak 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 words a physio says slowly. 103 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Radnik Krizevci have done the hard part with HNK Rijeka, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gaël Delplanque is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
David Martić 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.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$150.0K settles it between the clubs for Karlo Zulfić
Dinamo Zagreb have accepted the money. What Radnik Krizevci do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Radnik Krizevci have done the hard part with Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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. Lokomotiva Zagreb have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Taslak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Martić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Radnik Krizevci will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Radnik Krizevci is enjoying the guessing.
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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.
Radnik Krizevci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Taslak 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 doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Radnik Krizevci know which stage they are at.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Radnik Krizevci, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Patrik Horvat
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Radnik Krizevci asked and Uljanik Pula 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 had been thinking. Luka Matković 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Stanislav Kritsyuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Karlo Taslak 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 easiest signature of my career.” Maciej Zając and Radnik Krizevci agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
8 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Marić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Stanislav Kritsyuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnik Krizevci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Junior Bita and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnik Krizevci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Golub is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Antonio Marić's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes David Martić a promise
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnik Krizevci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Radnik Krizevci is running low.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Radnik Krizevci can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Stanislav Kritsyuk was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
In brief
The dugoutLuka Matković knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe manager makes David Martić a promise
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnik Krizevci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
David Martić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
The dugoutToni Vidović knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ivan Omazić
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Stanislav Kritsyuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
SquadWords at Radnik Krizevci training over how hard people work
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Andrej Golub
The dugoutThe manager makes David Martić a promise
The dugoutIvan Barišić knocks on the manager's door
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnik Krizevci 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. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Radnik Krizevci 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 Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Radnik Krizevci, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnik Krizevci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Junior Bita 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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnik Krizevci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Junior Bita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić 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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Stanislav Kritsyuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
David Martić 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.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnik Krizevci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnik Krizevci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Radnik Krizevci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Lucko will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Junior Bita, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Radnik Krizevci can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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.
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnik Krizevci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Radnik Krizevci will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stanislav Kritsyuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Patrick Pejić
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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. Radnik Krizevci will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Vukovar 1991 have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Golub 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.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci 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 Radnik Krizevci can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mate Pavlović and Radnik Krizevci agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Radnik Krizevci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić 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.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnik Krizevci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Radnik Krizevci 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.
Ivan Katić 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.
Radnik Krizevci asked and AEK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AEK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Junior Bita 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Radnik Krizevci asked and NK Krsko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Golub was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Matej Bilic to a room that had heard them before.
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnik Krizevci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Radnik Krizevci have done the hard part with HNK Rijeka, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci 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 David Martić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Patrik Marić scored in the 85th minute, Hrvatski Dragovoljac had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Radnik Krizevci took the lot.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Patrik Marić takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Patrik Marić provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Radnik Krizevci have done the hard part with HNK Gorica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Stanislav Kritsyuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Golub 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.
135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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 David Martić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 88, against Djakovo Croatia, 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Antonio Marić 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.
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.
142 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Radnik Krizevci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Dec 2026
David Martić 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.
149 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrik Marić did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filip Bosak and Radnik Krizevci agree another 3 years.
At 19 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.
156 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Junior Bita and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Matej Bilic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Radnik Krizevci, another week without a signature from Andro Marušić.
In brief
The dugoutLuka Matković knocks on the manager’s door
163 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Radnik Krizevci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Jovan Trač, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Stanislav Kritsyuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Golub is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 18 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.
Half the programme played, position 8, 19 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Golub was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Matej Bilic after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Radnik Krizevci is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Krizevci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
David Martić 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.
Something was said to Patrick Pejić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and David Martić has written the date down.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Radnik Krizevci have no good answer.
Stanislav Kritsyuk 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filip Grabovac and Radnik Krizevci agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Golub was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrik Marić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Radnik Krizevci told Jovan Trač something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Matej Bilic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Junior Bita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Radnik Krizevci told Junior Bita something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Patrik Majdandžić has come out of that comparison in the side, and Radnik Krizevci have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Junior Bita did not need any: 7.68, 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 Radnik Krizevci 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 David Martić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Radnik Krizevci had all but put away. Varteks will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Something was said to Ivan Katić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
23 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.
HNK Gorica go through and Radnik Krizevci go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
1 for Karlo Taslak, marked 7.17, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Stanislav Kritsyuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Solin in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Ivan Katić, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Stanislav Kritsyuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Martić 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 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.
Everybody at Radnik Krizevci saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 39 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Katić 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andro Marušić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Bita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
23 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 manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Trnje in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
0‑3 to Uskok, 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Junior Bita 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. Radnik Surdulica have kept their man, and Radnik Krizevci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
David Martić 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Matej Bilic to a room that had heard them before.
A touch he did not mean and a goal that goes in the book with his name against it. Radnik Krizevci will not blame him tonight and he will not need them to.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 36 arrived, 19 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything agreed with Orijent 1919, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ivan Katić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andro Marušić 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 doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Radnik Krizevci will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Toni Vidović is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Toni Vidović’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Radnik Krizevci needing him to play as if none of it matters.