News, news, news

I’m about to puke.
Dragan Mance passed away 31 years ago. Average Fan is about to have a quiet day with lighting a candle and remembering with old videos.
No way.
Average Fan opens the news feed and a railway carriage sized dung and garbage starts to flow. That’s all about having a quiet remembrance.
Let’s start with football.
The team’s management gathers together again, trying again to elect a president instead of the temporary Ivan Ćurković.
Rumours say that it’s been a done deal for a while, as the current management put vice president Milorad Vučelić to the presidental chair underhand. The election that is supposed to be held on 12th (or 14th) September is just a formality. Of course it’s not official yet, but more or less you can take it as a shoo-in. Mondo.rs tells about the other candidate Nenad Bjeković has no actual support after the current leadership discharged everyone who was about to vote for him. Ćirković just added, Vučelić would be a much better candidate than him. (Ćirković will surely not enter as a candidate this time.)

Let’s not try to find out what he got from the management for this declaration.

What really made my eyebrows raise was a half-sentence by Mondo saying that fans also support Vučelić against Bjeković. I’d really like to look into the eyes of these alleged fans (in case this rumour is not fake), and I’d like to see each and every one of them the certification from a psychiatrist (with stamp and signature) that they are all sane.

***

Aleksandar Džikić is rumoured to stand up from KK Partizan’s bench. The head coach has been weary of the continuous uncertainty, the pressure, but most of all of the double standards that have been used against Partizan lately. Sources mention Džikić has been considering this decision since when it came to light that there will still be a Serbian team in Eurocup.

Originally Partizan was this team, but the Serbian Basketball Association said that if Partizan entered the competition, the team would be excluded from the Serbian championship. Partizan finally decided to cancel entering the series - meanwhile they had enough troubles with FIBA as well - then they thought this newly founded basketball Champions League could be a kind of life-belt for the team.

And this team is not else than... FMP!
Thank you, Čoki, thank you, KSS!
I’m not surprised at all that it was too much for Aleksandar Džikić. It’s a miracle that he could bear it all until now.
What is more, the successor of Džikić was also mentioned. The press told about Miroslav "Muta" Nikolić as KK Partizan’s possible next head coach. Nikolić is currently the second trainer of the Serbian men’s national basketball team.

Miroslav Nikolić

(photo: zurnal.rs)

A slight blessing in disguise is that the basketball team signed another player, 22-year-old Stefan Pot, who already debuted in the team at a friendly pre-season game against Besiktas (Partizan won to 83:77).

Stefan Pot

(photo: mondo.rs)

That’s all for now.

***

And now stand up and salute silently for a minute.
Legends live. In our hearts, in our memories, on photos, in videos and on the walls of buildings.
Dragan Mance - † 03. 09. 1985.

(photo made by the author)

Marko Nikolić is Partizan’s new coach

Marko Nikolić has returned to ul. Humska. So, he could get an agreement with the management.

Yes, that same management that kicked him out last year out of the blue and substituted him with Zoran Milinković. That was the first step to this lowest point we are at now.

The past few days were mostly about whom Partizan could sign as a new head coach as soon as possible, after Ivan Tomić suddenly resigned. Rumours speak about Nikolić having tough conditions: he demanded a 3-year contract with a 10 000-euro salary per year. (The team originally wanted to sign him for one year, with the possibility to extend it for one more year. There were no infos about the financial part, but surely it was at first just a snippet compared to the amount mentioned above.)

Marko Nikolić at a match some time in 2014

I’ll be really, brutally honest now.
I don’t think he could bring out more from this current squad than his predecessors. Simply because the current squad consists of terrible players. Back then, when he was the head coach, the team was full of Partizan youth academy kids. Right now we have just a ragtime mercenary army fumbling around wearing Partizan-jersey.
Dear current management, first you’re not dear at all, second I’m just saying here near the sideline that instead of changing head coaches we should get rid of this terrible, talentless horde of players. We must kick THEM out first (followed by Iliev, because he brought these whacky pseudo footballers here).
I'm also concerned knowing that Marko Nikolić has got a special, rather headstrong style and this will make him clash often with the management, which will eventually end with him getting discharged the same inglorious way as two years ago.
I still hope I'll be proven wrong, but I'm not optimistic at all about the future.

Napredak - FK Partizan 2:1 (superliga, round 2)

There's nothing to say about this match.
We were a pile of shit. A pile of soulles, talentless monkeys with no ideas and no balls.
We deserved it.
There's no place for excuses. Nobody cares that the pitch was terrible, nobody cares about the referee's possible mistakes. Normally we should have won with 3-4 goals.

After all, what the hell did we expect? The team has been suffering from a heavy lack of strikers and goals, but fear no more, Ivica Iliev came up with the Big Solution.
He signed another goalkeeper.
Well done, idiot.

The first goal was scored by Napredak from penalty in the 19th minute. Šaranov fouled Gobeljić at the goalmouth, the referee’s decision for penalty was absolutely right. (The slow motion replay confirmed the foul.) Šljivić stood behind the ball, he shot and scored, as it should be. 1:0
Here we kept on trying. At the 23rd minute Mihajlović had an attempt, goalkeeper Petrović made a big save.

He was the only one who had ideas about what to do and how

Other than this Leonardo sent a free kick right to the crossbar in the 44th minute.
That's all about the first half.
The second half was even worse.
There was nothing. NOTHING. No shoot on target. No fight. No winning mentality. No running, no pace, no attack. Nothing.
Well, maybe there was a little bit of attack, or at least something that reminded of attacking (watching from distance with eyes half closed). Mihajlović ran up here and there on the left, but even he couldn’t do miracle among those fumbling handicapped ducks.

Gogoua = a miserable pile of crap
Everton = primitive idiot
Janković = overly neurotic
Leonardo = butterfly fart
Vulićević = getting slower and slower
(this last one especially makes me sad...)

Then the (non-existing) pace slowed down and turned into the most annoying knock-the-ball-around game. Prva Liga feeling... (but I'm sure even in the 2nd Serbian league there are more exciting games than this). And please, someone tell me why Mihajlović had to be substituted and especially why was Bojinov his substitute?...
Napredak’s 2nd goal came in the 71st minute. Projić shot a, well, let’s be honest, a fantastic cannon shot goal from the left corner of the penalty area. 2:0
We had a huge chance in the 82nd minute. Janković shot, but the goalkeeper saved it. Then the last 7-8 minutes were spent with desperate Partizan-atttempts. Its only result was a penalty in the 87th minute, after Šljivić thwarted Saša Ilić at the baseline

an additional assistant referee would have come to hand

and the referee gave us a penalty shot.
Time has come for Bojinov. The Bulgarian kicked the ball into the box. 2:1

After almost 360 minutes we scored the first goal of the season. From penalty.
Well done. Just well done.

As the result of the defeat and especially the terrible, atrocious performance head coach Ivan Tomić has resigned right after the game. There are no infos yet about his possible successor.

I feel for Tomić. Even a level Mourinho coach couldn’t have brought out any better performance from this line-up. This was the only possible step he could make.
Iliev, Vazura, Vučelić, Vuletić, you’re next!...

Update: upon the informations of mozzartsport.com the management would like Marko Nikolić to return to Partizan’s bench. The two other possible candidates are Vuk Rašović and Zoran Milinković.
Okay. Now wake me up, because this is surely a nightmare.

Highlights:

Facts:
Venue: Stadium Mladost, Kruševac
Number of spectators: 7000
Official: Dejan Santrač (assistants: Dejan Petrović, Darko Savović - 4th official: Lazar Tripković)

Napredak: N. Petrović - Simonović, Frimpong, Urošević (Beljić, 85.), Projić - Šljivić, Vulić (Vukanović, 52.), Gobeljić, Varga, Markoski - N’Diaye (B. Petrović, 78.)
Head coach: Dragan Ivanović

FK Partizan: Šaranov - Vulićević, Gogoua, Ostojić, Bogosavac - Everton, S. Ilić - Janković, Leonardo (Radović, 82.), Mihajlović (Bojinov, 63.) - Vlahović (Đurđić, 73.)
Head coach: Ivan Tomić

Goal scorers: Šljivić (19. - pen.), Projić (71.), Bojinov (87. - pen.)
Yellow card: N’Diaye (60.), Šljivić (69.),Everton (79.), Leonardo (81.), Varga (90.)

Current championship standings:
1. Mladost 6 points
2. CZ 4 points
3. Spartak Subotica 4 points
4. FK Voždovac 4 points
5. Napredak 4 points
6. Vojvodina 3 points*
7. Radnički Niš 3 points
8. Metalac 3 points
9. Javor 2 points
10. Mladi Radnik 2 points
11. Novi Pazar 1 point*
12. Čukarički 1 point
13. FK Partizan 1 point
14. OFK Bačka 1 point
15. Borac 0 point
16. Rad 0 point

*Vojvodina and Novi Pazar have played 1 game so far

(photos: partizan.rs)