“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tekstilac Odžaci have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Marko Ivanović, marked 7.87, 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.
Irfan Zulfić 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 morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Predrag Stojkovic 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Tekstilac Odžaci, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club 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 Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luka Bubanja 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 Tekstilac Odžaci will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Konstantinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Tekstilac Odžaci game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Smederevo 1924 runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Anton Kjærgaard is 20, and Tekstilac Odžaci have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Johan Fagersted is 19, and Tekstilac Odžaci have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anton Kjærgaard and Tekstilac Odžaci agree another 3 years.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Dusan Pavlovic has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tekstilac Odžaci can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Radnicki 1923 is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci 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 Irfan Zulfić 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. CFR Cluj have kept their man, and Tekstilac Odžaci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Leontije Vasić 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. Nikola Puškar 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.
Tekstilac Odžaci asked and Cukaricki said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Tekstilac Odžaci will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Ivanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A season-long audition: Voždovac still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Tekstilac Odžaci's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Radnicki Nis have kept their man, and Tekstilac Odžaci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vojin Vesković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Tekstilac Odžaci will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 Precious Ezechukwuma trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Tekstilac Odžaci know which stage they are at.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irfan Zulfić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vanja Apostolovski 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Nobody at Tekstilac Odžaci 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. Tekstilac Odžaci know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Dusan Pavlovic has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Godoy is living that version at Tekstilac Odžaci, and it tends to show in the first month.
Leontije Vasić 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Irfan Zulfić 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.
A loan enquiry to Spartak Subotica: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Leontije Vasić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tekstilac Odžaci are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojin Vesković 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ahmed Al-Obaidli and Tekstilac Odžaci agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Leontije Vasić is on it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Tekstilac Odžaci is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci 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 Irfan Zulfić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 appearances at Trnje and the goals have stopped going in. Tekstilac Odžaci lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tekstilac Odžaci know 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 Luka Bubanja is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Puškar 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.
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.
Leontije Vasić 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 Vojin Vesković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Tekstilac Odžaci the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Dusan Pavlovic has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Leontije Vasić 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Irfan Zulfić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leontije Vasić is on it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nemanja Andrijanić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Irfan Zulfić 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.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
Borna Bošnjak’s loan is measured in nothing happening
11 clean sheets from 20 appearances at Trnje. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luka Bubanja is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Every 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 Nemanja Ahčin is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tekstilac Odžaci, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A season average of 7.14 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tekstilac Odžaci know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Leontije Vasić 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. Irfan Zulfić 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 Vukašin Radosavljević is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nemanja Andrijanić signs something — a contract at Tekstilac Odžaci or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Tekstilac Odžaci can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Leontije Vasić 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 Apr 2027
Irfan Zulfić 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Nemanja Andrijanić was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vojin Vesković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 appearances at Trnje and the goals have stopped going in. Tekstilac Odžaci lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tekstilac Odžaci can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tekstilac Odžaci will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci 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 Irfan Zulfić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at Tekstilac Odžaci saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tekstilac Odžaci, another week without a signature from Marcel Petrov.
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 Nemanja Ahčin is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A season average of 7.14 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tekstilac Odžaci know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Leontije Vasić 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 Irfan Zulfić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Tekstilac Odžaci 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Tekstilac Odžaci can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nemanja Andrijanić and Tekstilac Odžaci agree another 4 years.
Leontije Vasić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Tekstilac Odžaci will try not to make too much of it.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Tekstilac Odžaci is running low.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nikola Puškar did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Puškar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tekstilac Odžaci know it.
11 shut-outs in 20 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Borna Bošnjak has been having a lot 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 Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Irfan Zulfić 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aleksandar Janković. 2‑1 against Grafičar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Vladan Bala 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. Grafičar tried to reorganise, Tekstilac Odžaci did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
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.
Maksim Kličković, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tekstilac Odžaci know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Leontije Vasić 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Dusan Pavlovic could afford to be generous.
Something was said to Janko Rakonjac and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Position 14 and 27 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Maksim Kličković, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.91
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Irfan Zulfić 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 Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Maksim Kličković 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.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
Borna Bošnjak’s loan is measured in nothing happening
10 clean sheets from 17 appearances at Trnje. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Vanja Apostolovski scored, was marked 7.51, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tekstilac Odžaci may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Tekstilac Odžaci 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: IMT keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Nikola Puškar, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.02
A mark of 8.02 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vojvodina is saying, and nobody at Tekstilac Odžaci is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojin Vesković is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at TSC is saying, and nobody at Tekstilac Odžaci is enjoying the guessing.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Vladan Bala, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Leontije Vasić 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Irfan Zulfić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tekstilac Odžaci know it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dusan Pavlovic after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Player ratingsNikola Puškar beats them one at a time
TSC have accepted the money. What Tekstilac Odžaci do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Leontije Vasić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
1‑4 to Jedinstvo Ub, 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Vladan Bala, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mateja Mijatović is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vojin Vesković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Vladan Bala is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Tekstilac Odžaci will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Dusan Pavlovic to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Stefan Milić is in the works
Nemanja Andrijanić 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Irfan Zulfić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tekstilac Odžaci can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 2‑0 win over Voždovac, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match26 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Tekstilac Odžaci. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Vladan Bala takes the afternoon — 9.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vladan Bala provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maksim Kličković did not need any: 8.25, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irfan Zulfić 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Vukašin Radosavljević 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.
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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Irfan Zulfić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Tekstilac Odžaci will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Smederevo 1924 spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Nemanja Andrijanić 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Irfan Zulfić 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maksim Kličković. 2‑1 against Smederevo 1924, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 19 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 words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Position 14, 13 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Irfan Zulfić 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.
A point taken on 95 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tekstilac Odžaci can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irfan Zulfić 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 Tekstilac Odžaci 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 Mačva Šabac in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Vladan Bala, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vukašin Radosavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dusan Pavlovic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vladan Bala did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tekstilac Odžaci has to find a result from somewhere.
Vanja Apostolovski 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 Vojin Vesković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Janko Rakonjac, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
23 new faces, and Tekstilac Odžaci 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.
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.
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irfan Zulfić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tekstilac Odžaci know it.
The dugout26 Oct 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 1‑2 Dusan Pavlovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Irfan Zulfić 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 Vukašin Radosavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vojin Vesković 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 Tekstilac Odžaci, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Leontije Vasić is on it.
Something was said to Mateja Mijatović and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vladan Bala’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Tekstilac Odžaci needing him to play as if none of it matters.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nemanja Andrijanić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Erwin Bahonko has, at Tekstilac Odžaci, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irfan Zulfić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The words a physio says slowly. 101 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Maksim Kličković, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Irfan Zulfić 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Abidemi Alli has, at Tekstilac Odžaci, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marko Otašević. 2‑1 against Dubočica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Maksim Kličković has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vojin Vesković 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.
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Luka Bubanja delivers — 7.50
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Luka Bubanja scored, was marked 7.50, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Irfan Zulfić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Breno Nolasco has, at Tekstilac Odžaci, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The words a physio says slowly. 115 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irfan Zulfić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tekstilac Odžaci.
Squad14 Sep 2026
18 new faces, and Tekstilac Odžaci are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout14 Sep 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 2‑3 Dusan Pavlovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Tekstilac Odžaci are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 30 signed and 20 gone
That is the business done at Tekstilac Odžaci 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Farul Constanța keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Maksim Kličković 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.
Tekstilac Odžaci offered $90.0K; Cukaricki said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcel Petrov and Tekstilac Odžaci agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irfan Zulfić 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. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Tekstilac Odžaci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 20, and nobody at Tekstilac Odžaci signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The words a physio says slowly. 129 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.
Everything agreed with Paralimni, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to Cukaricki this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Irfan Zulfić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitatea Craiova have kept their man, and Tekstilac Odžaci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Dusan Pavlovic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The words a physio says slowly. 137 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 team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Novi Pazar will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Everything was agreed with another club and then the doctor spoke. Tekstilac Odžaci have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tekstilac Odžaci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irfan Zulfić 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.
144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tekstilac Odžaci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Tekstilac Odžaci will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tekstilac Odžaci, another week without a signature from Marko Otašević.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aleksandar Janković has, at Tekstilac Odžaci, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Farul Constanța keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Irfan Zulfić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Petar Maksimovic 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. Uros Jovanovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Irfan Zulfić and Tekstilac Odžaci agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Irfan Zulfić 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.
Tekstilac Odžaci asked and Radnik Surdulica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
49 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.
Farul Constanța 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Dusan Pavlovic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Smederevo 1924? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.