Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.41 for the rest of it.
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.
Sadick Abubakar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Radnik Surdulica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Borac Čačak runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ivan Tadic after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Radnik Surdulica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Trémoulet 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Radnik Surdulica, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Ryonosuke Ohori 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.
Radnicki 1923 next, and one man in the Radnik Surdulica dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Radnik Surdulica 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ayouba Kosiah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Stefan Ranđelović knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“I watch every Radnik Surdulica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kabel runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
“I watch every Radnik Surdulica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ušće runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksa Paić, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ivan Tadic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
500 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
Aleksa Ćelić 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Novi Pazar had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Radnik Surdulica, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Vukašin Bogdanović 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.
“I did not go to Dinamo Vranje to sit and watch. I want to come back to Radnik Surdulica and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ivan Tadic, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Darko Stojanović’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Radnik Surdulica needing him to play as if none of it matters.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I did not go to Borac Čačak to sit and watch. I want to come back to Radnik Surdulica and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Antonijević is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 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.
Nobody at Radnik Surdulica 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is David Stojanović’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Radnik Surdulica needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Trémoulet 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 needed Vukašin Bogdanović to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against OFK Beograd, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Igor Ivanović's mistake
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Trémoulet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Radnik Surdulica, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Radnik Surdulica has been clear about where Mlađan Stevanović stands, which is more than many ever get.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ivan Tadic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Radnicki Nis defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Aleksandar Pejović 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 Sandro Trémoulet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Dinamo Vranje to sit and watch. I want to come back to Radnik Surdulica and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Uroš Ćuk has just signed for Radnik Surdulica, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Trémoulet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Cukaricki scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“I watch every Radnik Surdulica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Borac Čačak runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
“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 Surdulica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Radnik Surdulica 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Trémoulet 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.
11 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Radnik Surdulica, another week without a signature from Aleksa Paić.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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 defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.81 for the rest of it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $55.6K — a club that wants Mouhamadou Fall enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to OFK Beograd this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Igor Ivanović. 3‑1 against Javor-Matis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
The deal with Radnicki 1923 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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.50, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
The offer went to Novi Pazar this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Filip Antonijević has, at Radnik Surdulica, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Partizan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Trémoulet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. IMT tried to reorganise, Radnik Surdulica did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Radnik Surdulica have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
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 Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Savo Rašković again, and this time the name on the line is Ušće. Radnik Surdulica are listening politely and promising nothing.
140 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Radnik Surdulica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Trémoulet 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.
Add another name to the list: Kisvárda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Filip Samurović. The answer from Radnik Surdulica has not changed — yet.
Still no offer on the table, and Đorđe Jovanović’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Sparta Prague 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.