It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Lovrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vedran Celjak 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 dugout3 Dec 2029
Vedran Celjak 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Curcio 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 Vinko Kolaković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Vedran Celjak 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. Kristijan Lovrić 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 Rudes 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.
Position 5, 27 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
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 5 on 27 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
A brace, and Adiele Eriugo takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adiele Eriugo provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Rudes and Lucko, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Frane Barbić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lucko next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Boris Boric after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Šušković is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The dugoutDominik Čeko has become a man the manager trusts
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vedran Celjak 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 Kristijan Lovrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.93, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rudes has been clear about where Domagoj Đurković stands, which is more than many ever get.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vinko Kolaković did not need any: 8.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Vedran Celjak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Lovrić 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Vinko Kolaković has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Position 3, 24 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 Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sven Šušković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Rudes will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Frane Barbić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Lovrić 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Boris Boric was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Rudes dressing room was either.
Hrvatski Dragovoljac will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rudes were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vedran Celjak 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.
Marked 9.58 — 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Lovrić 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.
Vedran Celjak 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 is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Rudes had all but put away. Sibenik will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Rudes support went home talking about one name.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Sven Šušković falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Lovrić 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Sibenik next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Minute 94, against HNK Vukovar 1991, 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Frane Barbić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Lovrić 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 deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Rudes will try again when the window opens; Hajduk Split may not be selling by then.
Half the programme played, position 2, 18 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Bilandžić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Vedran Celjak 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.
Rudes ran out of time with NK Osijek. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dugopolje; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Lucko next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Dugopolje had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rudes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rudes have done the hard part with NK Osijek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Lovrić 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 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Rudes 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.
Karlo Kralj 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rudes and Segesta in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rudes can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Podbrezova, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Rudes 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 Ivor Ribar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rudes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Domagoj Đurković and Rudes agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Vedran Celjak 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Vinko Kolaković 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: Adiele Eriugo. 1‑0 against Cibalia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lucko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rudes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with NK Osijek 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Rudes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
21 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 clubs have shaken hands with Dinamo Zagreb; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with Dinamo Zagreb is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Josip Radman is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Ivor Ribar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with HNK Vukovar 1991 the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Rudes will enjoy reviewing.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rudes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rudes can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vinko Kolaković is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Crvena Zvezda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Karlo Kralj 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rudes can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hajduk Split is saying, and nobody at Rudes is enjoying the guessing.
Rudes 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 had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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.
Rudes have made the call to Crvena Zvezda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rudes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Bilandžić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rudes have done the hard part with Dinamo Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Rudes 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.
Vedran Celjak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ante Sušak 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 Rudes 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.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everything agreed with Istra 1961, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Frane Barbić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karlo Kralj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HNK Gorica is saying, and nobody at Rudes is enjoying the guessing.
Rudes and Hajduk Split have settled on $50.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer from Lucko for Stipe Duvnjak was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Karlo Kralj 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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dugopolje waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rudes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Add another name to the list: Zadar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Merlin Hadzi. The answer from Rudes has not changed — yet.
Rudes had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Crvena Zvezda, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Vedran Celjak 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 Bruno Unušić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rudes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Rudes had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Patrik Jurásek has agreed terms with NK Varazdin for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Karlo Kralj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Antonio Imširović is living that version at Rudes, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Vedran Celjak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Vedran Celjak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bruno Peinipil is living that version at Rudes, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Unušić 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 best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Bruno Peinipil arrives at Rudes with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Karlo Kralj 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 Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rudes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Noa Bilić is on it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Rudes will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Rudes the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bruno Unušić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karlo Kralj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak 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 Rudes, another week without a signature from Ivan Tomečak.
In brief
The dugoutDominik Čeko has become a man the manager trusts
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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rudes can pretend not to have heard.
Vedran Celjak 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. Bruno Unušić 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.
2 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Xavi is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rudes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Bilandžić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karlo Kralj 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. Vedran Celjak 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 asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rudes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bruno Unušić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes 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 Bruno Unušić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rudes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Dominik Čeko is on it.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Ivan Žutić’s negotiating for him
Position 10 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rudes 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 Rudes 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 Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Bilandžić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Unušić 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 Ivan Žutić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Rudes 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rudes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bruno Unušić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karlo Kralj 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Vedran Celjak 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rudes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Rudes could ask drops and the wages Ivan Žutić 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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes 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 Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Vedran Celjak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Bruno Unušić 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Vojtěch Havelka is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karlo Kralj 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 Feb 2029
Vedran Celjak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Krešimir Kovačević trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Rudes will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karlo Kralj 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Vedran Celjak 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.
Rudes ran out of time with Lucko. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rudes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Rudes 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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 10 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The deal that would have taken Krešimir Kovačević to Zadar has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Rudes with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Vedran Celjak 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 clock did what Dinamo Zagreb would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Bruno Unušić 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.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rudes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Dinamo Zagreb have accepted the money. What Rudes do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rudes can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Rudes had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Viitorul, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Rudes 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.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karlo Kralj 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 Rudes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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.
Rudes have made the call to Lokomotiva Zagreb. 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. 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rudes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rudes have done the hard part with HNK Gorica, 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 Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Bruno Unušić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Rudes are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rudes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rudes have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rudes have done the hard part with Dinamo Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Istra 1961 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 Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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 clubs have shaken hands with Dinamo Zagreb; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with Istra 1961 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.
Rudes 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. Vedran Celjak 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 registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Unušić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Noa Bilić is on it.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Rudes could ask drops and the wages Bruno Unušić can ask rise.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chanse Headman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karlo Kralj 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Vedran Celjak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rudes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 10 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Rudes will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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 words a physio says slowly. 82 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Vedran Celjak 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 words a physio says slowly. 90 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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Karlo Kralj 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 Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rudes has been clear about where Frane Barbić 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 Noa Bilić is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chanse Headman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karlo Kralj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rudes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rudes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Rudes will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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 last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 6 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Vedran Celjak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristijan Lovrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Felipe Curcio will call it something else in private.
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Rudes know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ivan Tomečak
17 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.
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Istra 1961 ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces6 Nov 2028
Rudes are taken apart by Istra 1961 — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sven Šušković has just signed for Rudes, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karlo Kralj 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.
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rudes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes 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 Kristijan Lovrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Boris Boric after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The words a physio says slowly. 133 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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Vedran Celjak 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.
140 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Rudes know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑3 to HNK Gorica, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Adiele Eriugo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout2 Oct 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Boris Boric to a room that had heard them before.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
10 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.
Position 9 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Ivan Đorić, marked 7.12, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes 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 Vedran Celjak 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; Rudes are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Rudes are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Up for the corner, and Bruno Unušić delivers — 7.92
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Bruno Unušić scored, was marked 7.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Vedran Celjak 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. Kristijan Lovrić 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 93. Zadar had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. HNK Vukovar 1991 moved on, Krešimir Kovačević reports back to Rudes, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Bilandžić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Adiele Eriugo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Rudes will try again when the window opens; Dinamo Zagreb may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑4 against Istra 1961, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
7 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.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Zagreb, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 25 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Rudes 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chanse Headman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karlo Kralj 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Vedran Celjak 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.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rudes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 10 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sesvete waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rudes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Vedran Celjak 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.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rudes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and HNK Vukovar 1991 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rudes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rudes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
$40.0K settles it between the clubs for Petar Nemet
Istra 1961 have accepted the money. What Rudes do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
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.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes 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. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Chanse Headman has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The offer went to HNK Rijeka this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Karlo Kralj 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.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rudes have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rudes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rudes asked and Cibalia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Felipe Curcio
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rudes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with HNK Rijeka 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Rudes will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
Vedran Celjak 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.
Rudes asked and Cerro Largo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dario Livaja 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.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rudes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The name of Luka Bilandžić has come up in conversations Rudes were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Duje Korač trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Allyson is still paying for one afternoon at Rudes
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 manager makes an example of Frane Barbić
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes 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. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luka Bilandžić is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chornomorets have kept their man, and Rudes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rudes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 14 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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.
Rudes asked and Villarreal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Unušić knocks on the manager's door
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes 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. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rudes 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 Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Vedran Celjak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cerro Largo have kept their man, and Rudes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Rudes have made the call to Chornomorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rudes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from HNK Vukovar 1991 for Ivan Zaverukha was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Rudes 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.
Rudes have made the call to Bayern Munich. 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. 30 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 Rudes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Rudes had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at NK Varazdin, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Karlo Kralj 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 Vedran Celjak 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. HNK Gorica have kept their man, and Rudes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Ivan Zaverukha has come up in conversations Rudes were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Feyenoord have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Allyson'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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rudes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Duje Korač 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Vedran Celjak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Rudes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rudes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Rudes will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Vedran Celjak 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mario Ljevar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A season average of 7.10 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Rudes know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Karlo Kralj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Karlo Kralj 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Vedran Celjak 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 would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout15 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Allyson'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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rudes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vedran Celjak 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. Ivor Ribar 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 Rudes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Vedran Celjak 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dominik Gregorski is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
36 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Karlo Kralj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Vedran Celjak 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 dugoutMilan De Weerdt has become a man the manager trusts
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivor Ribar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rudes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Rudes 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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Bruno Unušić has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vedran Celjak 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.
Rudes will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Market3 Apr 2028
Duje Korač returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 3 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A season average of 7.10 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Rudes know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody 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 Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivor Ribar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 goals in 3 games at Torpedo Kutaisi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rudes updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Karlo Kralj 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. Vedran Celjak 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 dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Allyson'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.
Nobody at Rudes 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Rudes, and 1 appearances in 36 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rudes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes 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. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Vedran Celjak 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 words a physio says slowly. 22 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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rudes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.10 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Rudes know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vedran Celjak 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 Bruno Unušić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Rudes 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.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes 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. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Karlo Kralj 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. Vedran Celjak 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rudes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Allyson is still paying for one afternoon at Rudes
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 manager makes an example of Anton Kabuan
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rudes 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. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Vedran Celjak 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Sime Corluka has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The 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.
Hajduk Split arrived with $2.9M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rudes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jurica Poldrugač has gone, the accounts have $2.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: HNK Rijeka keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rudes can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Rudes 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.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Zagreb, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Zadar moved on, Josip Bralić reports back to Rudes, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
$2.6M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
36 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rudes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
He is going to Hajduk Split, the club has $2.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rudes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A season average of 7.10 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Rudes know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Karlo Kralj 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rudes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rudes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rudes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.11 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Rudes know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Rudes asked and Tacuarembo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.