The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Lokomotiva Zagreb will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 The request is on a desk at NK Varazdin, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Up for the corner, and Petar Bočkaj delivers — 7.08
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Petar Bočkaj scored, was marked 7.08, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matej Vuk 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 Evgeny Morozov 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 NK Varazdin 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 Matej Vuk is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Evgeny Morozov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
1 for David Puclin, marked 7.74, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evgeny Morozov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Varazdin they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Evgeny Morozov 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 Mody Boune was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every NK Varazdin game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Radnik Krizevci runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
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.
Hajduk Split next, and one man in the NK Varazdin dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.18 for the rest of 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout4 Oct 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 Dejan Erceg left the room before anybody could ask which.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tin Levanić is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Position 10 and 4 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matej Vuk 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evgeny Morozov 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.
Half the programme played, position 10, 4 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at NK Varazdin has been clear about where Petar Bočkaj stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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.” Dejan Erceg chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Boune 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Istra 1961 scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NK Varazdin told Filip Jagarčec something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“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 NK Varazdin, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evgeny Morozov 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.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hrvace waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Varazdin 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 NK Varazdin can pretend not to have heard.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
NK Varazdin close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 13 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.
NK Varazdin had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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 10 and 1 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Varazdin people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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; NK Varazdin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Boune is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Varteks waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 NK Varazdin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matej Vuk 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.
7 goals in one match, Aleksa Latković on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of NK Varazdin and Cibalia.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mody Boune 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. Djakovo Croatia have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokomotiva Zagreb waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 NK Varazdin, and it is not being withdrawn.
NK Varazdin had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
NK Varazdin asked and Basel 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.
0‑3 against HNK Gorica, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Varazdin people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at NK Varazdin, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Shakhtar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. NK Varazdin have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Mody Boune 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.
1‑4 against Hajduk Split, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sven Lesjak had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Everything agreed with Croatia Zmijavci, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at NK Varazdin is enjoying the guessing.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around NK Varazdin are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Mody Boune falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Mechelen have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The mood at NK Varazdin has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Hrvatski Dragovoljac had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Varazdin people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
NK Varazdin had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Matej Vuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Opatija waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Djakovo Croatia for Ivan Canjuga was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Varazdin 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. Zaglebie have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomislav Duvnjak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
NK Varazdin have made the call to Lokomotiv Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Position 9 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The deal with Lokomotiva Zagreb is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Mody Boune falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Ivan Canjuga again, and this time the name on the line is Djakovo Croatia. NK Varazdin are listening politely and promising nothing.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. NK Varazdin have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Novak Tepšić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Varazdin can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mody Boune was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
NK Varazdin asked and Shakhtar 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 mood at NK Varazdin has turned into something else
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Add another name to the list: Hrvatski Dragovoljac have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Novak Tepšić. The answer from NK Varazdin has not changed — yet.
The deal with Istra 1961 is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
NK Varazdin had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
NK Varazdin asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and NK Varazdin are still learning each other
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Varazdin people have started saying his name in the past tense.
NK Varazdin had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sigma Olomouc, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. NK Varazdin have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mody Boune falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kawasaki Frontale have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomislav Duvnjak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
NK Varazdin have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Jarun Zagreb waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Segesta keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Bočkaj 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.
“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 dugout14 Jun 2027
David Puclin is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Noa Mikić is in the works
The name of Novak Tepšić has come up in conversations NK Varazdin were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomislav Duvnjak and NK Varazdin agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Matej Vuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Segesta have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at NK Varazdin has been clear about where Mario Marina stands, which is more than many ever get.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Novak Tepšić is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
NK Varazdin have made the call to Segesta. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The mood at NK Varazdin has turned into something else
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.
Matej Vuk 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Mody Boune 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.
27 appearances and 0 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at NK Varazdin 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.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument NK Varazdin will have this month.
The loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at NK Varazdin no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Mody Boune 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.
Petar Bočkaj 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Roberto Punčec has his answer from NK Varazdin; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Silvio Ilinković is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roberto Punčec trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Varazdin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
“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 NK Varazdin, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting David Puclin's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomislav Duvnjak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at NK Varazdin will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mody Boune was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
36 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mario Marina's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody at NK Varazdin 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.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Loan watch10 May 2027
Domagoj Mamić’s loan is measured in nothing happening
8 clean sheets from 26 appearances at Segesta. 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.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Stipe Jurić’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Somebody to talk to at the next peg, a few words of the language, and a training ground that has stopped being a foreign country. It never appears in a scouting report and it decides most signings.
In brief
SquadMario Marina is the talk of the training ground
The mood at NK Varazdin has turned into something else
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.
Roman Macek 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
Mody Boune 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 Roman Macek is on 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 NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomislav Duvnjak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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 Silvio Ilinković is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Varazdin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Varazdin 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 Mody Boune was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Petar Bočkaj is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luka Mamić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iuri Tavares signs something — a contract at NK Varazdin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Matej Vuk 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Puclin, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Mario Marina is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at NK Varazdin 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.
26 appearances at Segesta and the goals have stopped going in. NK Varazdin lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Varazdin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at NK Varazdin says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking 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 Roberto Punčec has written the date down.
“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.
Nobody at NK Varazdin 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.
“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 NK Varazdin will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at NK Varazdin than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Boune 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomislav Duvnjak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody at NK Varazdin 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.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. NK Varazdin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 9 and 14 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Mody Boune 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Varazdin, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting David Puclin's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomislav Duvnjak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at NK Varazdin 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iuri Tavares signs something — a contract at NK Varazdin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. NK Varazdin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Roman Macek 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Matej Vuk 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 NK Varazdin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
8 shut-outs in 26 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Domagoj Mamić has been having a lot of them.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at NK Varazdin would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Varazdin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mody Boune was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
17 appearances and 5 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver 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 NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at NK Varazdin 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.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument NK Varazdin will have this month.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mody Boune trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at NK Varazdin would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at NK Varazdin can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
17 appearances and 5 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Bočkaj 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at NK Varazdin has been clear about where Luka Mamić stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomislav Duvnjak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Position 9 and 14 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anastas Arnaudovski and NK Varazdin agree another 4 years.
“I watch every NK Varazdin game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Istra 1961 runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting David Puclin's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody at NK Varazdin 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iuri Tavares signs something — a contract at NK Varazdin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at CSKA Moscow is saying, and nobody at NK Varazdin is enjoying the guessing.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Boune 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Bruno Boric 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mato Kovac has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Robert Budimir 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. Robert Livaja 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.
“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 NK Varazdin, and 8 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
1-4. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Boune 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.
NK Varazdin asked and HNK Gorica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Kovačević and NK Varazdin agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Ivan Mamut has gone, the accounts have $510.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
NK Varazdin close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The fee is $280.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. BSK Bijelo Brdo drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Filip Kovačević is living that version at NK Varazdin, and it tends to show in the first month.
Lokomotiva Zagreb paid $510.0K and NK Varazdin took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kawasaki Frontale have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luka Škaričić, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomislav Duvnjak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Krasnodar 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 NK Varazdin 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 Mody Boune was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
David Puclin is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Varazdin people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Opatija have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ivan Mamut. The answer from NK Varazdin has not changed — yet.
NK Varazdin had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at CSKA Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mody Boune 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 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orijent 1919 have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Bočkaj 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. NK Varazdin have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The chase for Aleksa Todorović ended with $320.0K changing hands and HNK Rijeka out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Matej Vuk 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 is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Lokomotiv Moscow 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mody Boune 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. Karlovac 1919 have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at NK Varazdin, another week without a signature from Mody Boune.
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Boune 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.
Petar Bočkaj 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.
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
David Puclin is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iuri Tavares signs something — a contract at NK Varazdin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
17 appearances at Segesta and the goals have stopped going in. NK Varazdin lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
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 Roberto Punčec has written the date down.
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 Tomislav Duvnjak.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the NK Varazdin dressing room in a hurry
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Dejan Erceg left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. NK Varazdin scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dani Pintarić did not need any: 9.34, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Dubrava were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mody Boune 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 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Dani Pintarić 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.
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. NK Varazdin know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ivan Mamut
Roman Macek and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mody Boune 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Elvir Duraković commits to NK Varazdin for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomislav Duvnjak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout7 Dec 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 Dejan Erceg left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Varazdin, and 4 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
David Puclin is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dejan Erceg left the room before anybody could ask which.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Matej Vuk 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.
Dinamo Zagreb left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mody Boune 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Roberto Punčec.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Roman Macek will want back
Matej Vuk 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Boune 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.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Dinamo Zagreb.
Nobody at NK Varazdin 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.
Dinamo Zagreb next, and one man in the NK Varazdin dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aleksa Latković signs something — a contract at NK Varazdin or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at NK Varazdin. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Ivan Mamut and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Varazdin, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mody Boune was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. NK Varazdin know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at NK Varazdin, another week without a signature from Mody Boune.
“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 NK Varazdin, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout2 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Dejan Erceg to a room that had heard them before.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Varazdin have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mody Boune 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ivan Mamut has his answer from NK Varazdin; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NK Varazdin told Roman Macek something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dejan Erceg after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
6 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.
Beaten 1‑4 by HNK Rijeka, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Petar Bočkaj takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Petar Bočkaj provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Paizinho did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
7.50, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mody Boune 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 NK Varazdin, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Matej Vuk’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and NK Varazdin needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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 NK Varazdin will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
14 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Slaven Belupo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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 NK Varazdin, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Half the programme played, position 5, 14 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petar Bočkaj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Matej Vuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dejan Erceg on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Slaven Belupo next, and one man in the NK Varazdin dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Boune is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dejan Erceg after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luka Mamić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 8 and 7 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at NK Varazdin, another week without a signature from Mody Boune.
“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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at NK Varazdin 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation NK Varazdin are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Varazdin, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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. Matej Vuk has moved up it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Petar Bočkaj’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and NK Varazdin needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Varazdin will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mario Mladenovski was one of the reasons people came, and $740.0K does not replace that by itself.
Cibalia paid $210.0K and NK Varazdin took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
NK Varazdin asked and FC Argeș 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 phone has started ringing about Domagoj Begonja again, and this time the name on the line is Cibalia. NK Varazdin are listening politely and promising nothing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. NK Varazdin have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Uskok for Dani Pintarić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with HNK Gorica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
NK Varazdin had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dynamo Kyiv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mody Boune and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rudes have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tomislav Duvnjak 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Djakovo Croatia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Opatija for Domagoj Begonja was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. NK Varazdin have done the hard part with Dynamo Kyiv, 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: Astana keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mody Boune is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and NK Varazdin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Segesta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Varazdin is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Zagreb keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomislav Duvnjak and NK Varazdin agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
NK Varazdin asked and Istra 1961 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Matej Vuk 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.
Hajduk Split left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 Aug 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 Dejan Erceg to a room that had heard them before.
1‑5 to HNK Rijeka, 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.
6 goals in one match, Stipe Jurić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of NK Varazdin and HNK Rijeka.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at NK Varazdin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Marina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax have kept their man, and NK Varazdin 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 NK Varazdin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.