Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jurica Poldrugač 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 Jurica Poldrugač was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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 Ante Sušak is on it.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Rudes could ask drops and the wages Jurica Poldrugač can ask rise.
Dominik Mulac 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.
“I watch every Rudes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Solin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tedesco and Rudes agree another 4 years.
Squad15 Feb 2027
6 new faces, and Rudes are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
8 shut-outs in 24 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Ivan Zaverukha has been having a lot of them.
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 Karlo Kralj is on it.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Frane Bobanović is living that version at Rudes, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jurica Poldrugač was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kristijan Lovrić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jurica Poldrugač trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ivan Đorić is on it.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Vito Orešković’s exile
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Rudes than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Dante Stipica is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
In brief
Loan watchIvan Zaverukha’s loan is measured in nothing happening
The dugoutMerlin Hadzi has become a man the manager trusts
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jurica Poldrugač will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rudes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Istra 1961 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rudes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Cherno Saho 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I watch every Rudes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jadran Luka Ploce runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Ante Sušak is on it.
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.
Add another name to the list: Hajduk Split have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jurica Poldrugač. The answer from Rudes has not changed — yet.
Dominik Mulac 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 Jurica Poldrugač was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Orijent 1919 paid $10.0K and Rudes took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I watch every Rudes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Solin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Rudes know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Uskok waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rudes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Dominik Mulac 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. Jurica Poldrugač 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 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martin Perisic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Niko Lovren is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer from Hajduk Split for Jurica Poldrugač 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.
“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.
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.
“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 Dinamo Zagreb, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Rudes is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jurica Poldrugač is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“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 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jurica Poldrugač was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kristijan Lovrić 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 watch every Rudes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Solin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“I watch every Rudes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Grobnican runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Dario Grbic to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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.
“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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jurica Poldrugač 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jurica Poldrugač is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dario Grbic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kristijan Lovrić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noa Skoko did not need any: 8.05, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jurica Poldrugač is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Dominik Mulac and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ante Sušak has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Opatija tried to reorganise, Rudes did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
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.
“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 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Dario Grbic could afford to be generous.
Dominik Mulac 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. Jurica Poldrugač is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rudes told Adiele Eriugo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Opatija in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
“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 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 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 8 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
7.71, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rudes had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Dario Grbic kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Dominik Mulac could not do
“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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
“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 5 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
12 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Half the programme played, position 9, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I watch every Rudes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Solin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dario Grbic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rudes told Felipe Curcio something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Slaven Belupo go through and Rudes go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7.94, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jurica Poldrugač was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Kristijan Lovrić 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.
“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.
“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 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sesvete in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Besart Abdurahimi signs something — a contract at Rudes or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jurica Poldrugač is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rudes can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Dario Grbic could afford to be generous.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Jurica Poldrugač has moved up it.
In brief
The dugoutAnte Sušak has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutIvan Tomečak knocks on the manager's door
Dominik Mulac 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. Jurica Poldrugač 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Rudes are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“I watch every Rudes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Solin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Felipe Curcio 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.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“I watch every Rudes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dugo Selo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dario Grbic was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Rudes dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Unušić knocks on the manager's door
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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 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 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Rudes close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Istra 1961 moved on, Besart Abdurahimi reports back to Rudes, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ante Sušak has come out of that comparison in the side, and Rudes have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PSV keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Add another name to the list: Rudar Velenje have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Duje Korač. The answer from Rudes has not changed — yet.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Istra 1961 will make the call about Besart Abdurahimi this week. Rudes have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dario Grbic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Lokomotiva Zagreb for Jurica Poldrugač 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Dominik Mulac 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 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rudes and Opatija in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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 brace, and Stefan Vukić takes the afternoon — 8.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stefan Vukić provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Dugopolje for Lenny Ilečić 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.
Dominik Mulac and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Noa Skoko has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vedran Bogdan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tomislav Orsic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The phone has started ringing about Ivan Zaverukha again, and this time the name on the line is Varteks. Rudes are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jurica Poldrugač was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dario Grbic left the room before anybody could ask which.