Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Djakovo Croatia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Uljanik Pula is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uljanik Pula can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orijent 1919 have kept their man, and Uljanik Pula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikola Marić. 1‑0 against Djakovo Croatia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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; Uljanik Pula are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Nikola Marić
SquadWords at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Transfer targetsA loan move for Antonio Sucic is in the works
“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 The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Mićić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula 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.
“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 Uljanik Pula know it.
Andrej Mićić 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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bjelovar in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A brace, and Nikola Marić takes the afternoon — 9.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikola Marić provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
João Costa 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikola Marić. 2‑0 against Dugo Selo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Seth Annink 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: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
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.” Martin Vlasic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
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.
Andrej Mićić, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Mićić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
João Costa 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 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Jadran Luka Ploce had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Andrej Mićić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adriano Milanović, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Seth Annink falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mladost Zdralovi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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.
14 combined actions and 6.97. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Andrej Mićić 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.
Position 11, 17 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Uljanik Pula has been clear about where Ivan Kešina stands, which is more than many ever get.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Uljanik Pula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
João Costa 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adriano Milanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Kustosija next, and one man in the Uljanik Pula dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Uljanik Pula know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Uljanik Pula would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uljanik Pula can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Seth Annink was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vlatko Martinović had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Solin were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vlatko Martinović provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Mićić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 3‑3 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Position 14 and 12 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Mićić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
João Costa 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Martin Vlasic to a room that had heard them before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bruno Damjanović has his answer from Uljanik Pula; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Trnje will replay every second of the added time for a week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vlatko Martinović provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Seth Annink 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.
Hicham El Horma 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
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.” Martin Vlasic kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Uljanik Pula man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Vlatko Martinović was the best thing in any of them.
“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 Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Mićić 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 Uljanik Pula 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.
“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 Uljanik Pula will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Matija Kanceljak’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Uljanik Pula needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Elvir Duraković arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Uljanik Pula could ask drops and the wages Marin Bakić can ask rise.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Mićić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Uljanik Pula know it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Roko Brajković has come out of that comparison in the side, and Uljanik Pula have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Diego Cienfuegos has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adriano Milanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uljanik Pula can pretend not to have heard.
João Costa 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 Seth Annink was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Uljanik Pula know 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 Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Uljanik Pula and Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Andrej Mićić 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.
João Costa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Luka Kramaric, 15, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 15-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Uljanik Pula asked and Lokomotiva Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Andrej Mićić 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 Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uljanik Pula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uljanik Pula can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uljanik Pula have done the hard part with NK Varazdin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Stelios Papageorgiou has, at Uljanik Pula, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Uljanik Pula asked and HNK Rijeka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Težački was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Djakovo Croatia next, and one man in the Uljanik Pula dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uljanik Pula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Osijek have kept their man, and Uljanik Pula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Težački 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.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uljanik Pula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Mićić 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.
Marin Bakić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The deal with Bjelovar 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.
Uljanik Pula had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at HNK Rijeka, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiva Zagreb have kept their man, and Uljanik Pula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Težački is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dugo Selo scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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 HNK Rijeka, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Težački is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uljanik Pula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
An order from above at Uljanik Pula: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Uljanik Pula 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 Andrej Mićić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
João Costa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Uljanik Pula will try not to make too much of it.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Mladost Zdralovi had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The words a physio says slowly. 61 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The deal with Hajduk Split is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$280.0K was the most the club would pay and Istra 1961 were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Uljanik Pula
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.
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uljanik Pula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Istra 1961 keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uljanik Pula have done the hard part with Istra 1961, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Težački was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uljanik Pula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uljanik Pula can pretend not to have heard.
Istra 1961 have accepted the money. What Uljanik Pula do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lokomotiva Zagreb keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uljanik Pula have done the hard part with NK Osijek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Segesta have kept their man, and Uljanik Pula 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 Andrej Mićić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ralph van Hunnik 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.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uljanik Pula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 15 and 28 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.
Uljanik Pula and Lokomotiva Zagreb have settled on $93.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. José Alves has, at Uljanik Pula, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ivan Težački 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.
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uljanik Pula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Hajduk Split 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Težački was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dinamo Zagreb 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.
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uljanik Pula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uljanik Pula can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with HNK Rijeka, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$40.0K was the most the club would pay and Hajduk Split were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiva Zagreb have kept their man, and Uljanik Pula 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 Andrej Mićić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uljanik Pula lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HNK Rijeka is saying, and nobody at Uljanik Pula is enjoying the guessing.
$40.0K on the table at Hajduk Split. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Ivan Težački 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matija Kanceljak, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
8 new faces, and Uljanik Pula 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.
In brief
Boardroom95% of the income goes out in wages at Uljanik Pula
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uljanik Pula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Uljanik Pula will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Callum Perry is living that version at Uljanik Pula, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Težački 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.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uljanik Pula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Uljanik Pula
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Uljanik Pula now.
Market31 May 2027
Marcelo Rebic returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
The words a physio says slowly. 128 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Težački was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uljanik Pula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutArian Moslavac has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 135 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Težački is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Every 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 Stipe Ukich is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Uljanik Pula know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uljanik Pula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uljanik Pula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uljanik Pula, another week without a signature from Marin Bakić.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nikola Ilinčić has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 150 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 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Uljanik Pula
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad3 May 2027
Ivan Težački 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uljanik Pula, another week without a signature from Roko Brajković.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Matej Jukić is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Uljanik Pula can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Ivan Težački 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 Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uljanik Pula, 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
The dugoutThe manager makes Mato Bagavac a promise
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlo Berković 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
131% of the income goes out in wages at Uljanik Pula
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 Stipe Ukich is on it.
“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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Uljanik Pula. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Težački is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikola Marić and Uljanik Pula agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ivan Težački 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“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 Uljanik Pula, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlo Berković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Pejanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Uljanik Pula may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Ivan Težački falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a 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 Uljanik Pula, and 4 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uljanik Pula, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Uljanik Pula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Ivan Težački 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Uljanik Pula has been clear about where Mateo Kovacevic stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uljanik Pula, another week without a signature from Marin Bakić.
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 Diego Alexander Rossi is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Uljanik Pula has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bojan Knežević and Uljanik Pula agree another 3 years.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.60, and 2 involvements.
“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 Uljanik Pula know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlo Berković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Težački was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Uljanik Pula pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Stipe Ukich did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Roko Brajković 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 Ivan Težački was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
138% of the income goes out in wages at Uljanik Pula
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Position 16 and 24 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The 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.
Stipe Ukich 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Every 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 Stipe Ukich is on it.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Težački 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.
Stipe Ukich 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.
“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 Uljanik Pula will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Diego Alexander Rossi will call it something else in private.
Stipe Ukich, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Uljanik Pula close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ivan Težački 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 Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Uljanik Pula had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hajduk Split, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Vukovar 1991 have kept their man, and Uljanik Pula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlo Berković 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Nikola Ilinčić.
Position 15 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Uljanik Pula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uljanik Pula have done the hard part with Hajduk Split, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Težački was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Hrvatski Dragovoljac. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Uljanik Pula asked and NK Varazdin 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Uljanik Pula know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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 Martin Vlasic left the room before anybody could ask which.
0‑3 to Bjelovar, 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Roko Brajković 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.
Uljanik Pula asked and Rudes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlo Berković is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ivan Težački falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Filip Krušelj 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.
A point taken on 91 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Uljanik Pula, and 4 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Težački is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody at Uljanik Pula is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Martin Vlasic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Uljanik Pula told Adriano Milanović something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlo Berković 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 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Stipe Ukich 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mladost Zdralovi were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Martin Vlasic could afford to be generous.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Uljanik Pula will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Uljanik Pula has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlo Berković is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bojan Knežević trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Uljanik Pula 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Uljanik Pula will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Nobody at Uljanik Pula 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Uljanik Pula 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 Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout9 Nov 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 Martin Vlasic to a room that had heard them before.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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.
Minute 91, against Solin, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uljanik Pula, another week without a signature from Roko Brajković.
“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 Uljanik Pula, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlo Berković 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.” Martin Vlasic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Kešina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Uljanik Pula know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
HNK Rijeka go through and Uljanik Pula go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Filip Krušelj is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Martin Vlasic could afford to be generous.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlo Berković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Uljanik Pula told Filip Krušelj something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad12 Oct 2026
19 new faces, and Uljanik Pula 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlo Berković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlo Berković 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 Uljanik Pula, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
107% of the income goes out in wages at Uljanik Pula
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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Uljanik Pula prefer.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Martin Vlasic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Uljanik Pula dressing room was either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabian Heck trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Stipe Ukich did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Uljanik Pula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Pejanović 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.
Stipe Ukich 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout21 Sep 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.” Martin Vlasic kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutRoko Brajković asks for a word with the manager
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hajduk Split keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
19 new faces, and Uljanik Pula 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Martin Vlasic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
That is the business done at Uljanik Pula 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: Slavia Prague 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 Uljanik Pula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Uljanik Pula know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Uljanik Pula are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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. Filip Krušelj has moved up it.
Everything agreed with Shooting Stars, 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: Flora keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Uljanik Pula will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bruno Damjanović has, at Uljanik Pula, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The deal with Flora 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.
Uljanik Pula asked and BSK Bijelo Brdo 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mato Bagavac 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.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uljanik Pula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adriano Milanović and Uljanik Pula agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Uljanik Pula asked and Kustosija said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Uljanik Pula were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Uljanik Pula had all but put away. Dugo Selo will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Uljanik Pula know which stage they are at.
15 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uljanik Pula lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Roko Brajković has just signed for Uljanik Pula, and for once the answer mattered.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uljanik Pula have done the hard part with Slaven Belupo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Orijent 1919 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 Uljanik Pula 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. Rudes have kept their man, and Uljanik Pula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marin 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Mateo Kovacevic 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Antonio Pejanović and Uljanik Pula agree another 1 years.
At 21 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Uljanik Pula know which stage they are at.
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.
BSK Bijelo Brdo 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.