Fan blog of Partizan Sports Society (JSD Partizan) in Belgrade, Serbia. Football, basketball, volleyball, handball, ice hockey, water polo, news, players, all that are a matter of curiousity.
A subjective blog. English is not my mother tongue.
English version of http://jsdpartizanfan.blogspot.com/
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.
I'm rolling on the floor from laugh.
It's unbelievable. You just browse through the headlines of news sites and the end-of-summer depression dissolves into thin air. Then in the next moment you fell off your chair. What an irony.
Bojan Šaranov leaves Partizan. Miroslav Radović is just a step away from leaving, and if rumours are true, Bojinov is also packing his suitcases.
Šaranov has signed to Qarabag in Azerbaijan. Radović is about to return to his former team, Legia Warsaw. (He was seen in Warsaw, it is only the question of time. Partizan has nothing against the transaction, Radović wants to get back to Poland as quickly as possible, or maybe rather he wants to leave the Serbian championship with this speed.)
Bojinov heard the call of an unnamed Turkish as well as an unnamed Greek team. Both are told to have a very tempting offer for the Bulgarian. Bojinov, according to Hotsport, has said farewell to Partizan-fans on his Instagram.
I still can’t believe it. The Butterfly-catcher, the Pensioner and the Show-off leave. Only these two Brazilians, Everton and Leonardo should be sold out, possibly to a faraway championship, e.g. to UAE or China. Then I may even be excited to see Partizan-matches, regardless of the low level.
To cut it short, I haven’t been this happy very long ago to see the selling of Partizan-players.
***
Lately I pretty much forgot to tell about the basketball team,
mea culpa
even though life hasn’t stopped around them for a minute. First, almost the entire team has left. The three Americans, Jones, Wilson and Williams all left right after the end of the season, as their contract expired. Aranitović and Cvetković have signed to Manresa (ESP), Murić left to Turkey, Magdevski is still on loan at OKK Beograd, Đumić has signed to Sloboda Tuzla. There’s no info about Vitkovac and Veličković, but their photos have been removed from Partizan’s website.
Those who are still KK Partizan’s players: Adin Vrabac, Mihajlo Andrić, Miloš Koprivica and Vanja Marinković. There are a few new signings, e.g. Branislav Ratkovica, Uroš Luković, Đorđe Majstorovic (from Metalac), Stefan Birčević (who was a national team member at the Olympic Games) and two Americans, Frank Robinson and William Hatcher.
What is more, if rumours are true, Saša Pavlović wants to return to Partizan.
The team is playing preseason friendly games now, then in autumn they will take part in the fresly founded basketball Champions League.
ABA League will kickstart on 1st October with two newbies in the championship, Karpoš Sokoli from Macedonia and Mornar BAR from Montenegro.
After one year in Macedonia (Rabotnički Skopje) Vanja Ilić is again the player of RK Partizan. Balkan Handball shared the info about the Skopje-based team having a financial meltdown at the end of the season, so Ilić decided to return home.
Meanwhile other players left Partizan: Sretenović signed to Nimes (FRA), Radojković to Besiktas (TUR), goalkeeper Tomić to Krka (SLO), while Popović has been the player of Bidasoa (ESP) since this summer. All of them explained their decision with the same reason: the financial struggles of the team.
It seems though it’s still not as tough as in Macedonia.
Great to know about it, after one month. It was back in the first days of July that Ivan Popović, also known as Ivan the Terrible, the Fist of Partizan, the pivot of all pivots has signed to Basque handball team CD Bidasoa.
Have I mentioned how much I love (not) this detailed, always-in-time flow of information?...
Vamos cerrando la plantilla para la vuelta a la máxima categoría. Ivan Popovic se incorpora al Bidasoa de la Liga Asobal. Ongi etorri! http://bit.ly/29sx1R0
Posted by C.D.Bidasoa on Monday, July 4, 2016
Beside him Živan Pešić is told to be in search for a new team.
Ivan, thank you for everything! For your goals, for your fighting spirit, for always putting your heart and soul on the court! Good luck in Spain and we’re looking forward to your return to Partizan!
Update: the players of Bidasoa have started the preparations for the 2016/17 season. They published a few images on their FB-page; here is one with Ivan Popović.
Ivan Bandalovski has officially left Partizan. The defender said farewell to the team and the fans on Instagram.
"Today is one of the most difficult days in my life. I spent one and a half wonderful years at my beloved team, where I focused all my energies to the field, I gave all my might to every kick, every goal and every point achieved. I'm proud to win the League and the Serbian Cup with these boys, to play in European competitions. I'll never forget these, nor will I forget the applause and support of the Southern Tribune! I'm proud of every moment I spent on the field in front of the Grave Diggers. Life is unpredictable and you have to be ready for a new journey. My suitcases will be full of love for Partizan and with the most beautiful memories. It's not a final goodbye, just a greeting, because for me you are the greatest fans in the world! Forward, Partizan, til victory!"
Thank you very much for everything, Bandalinho! All the best!
definitely a much bigger bomb than those announced by everyone’s favourite (BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) sports director, Ivica Iliev at every single goddamn transfer
Andrija Živković has signed to SL Benfica until 2021.
I still think it was more or less expected. After those this kid had to go through this winter it would have been a miracle if he stayed at ul. Humska. Or rather at Teleoptik, where he was sent to exile for the entire spring season by Partizan’s leadership.
It was also no surprise that Živković will wait silently until his contract with Partizan expires - it happened on 30th June - then he immediately packs his suitcases and travels to the nearest big team and signs to them for at least 4-5 years, while fanfares flourish hymns all around.
Honestly? I can absolutely understand him. What is more, I would probably have done the same if I was him. After he was dragged through the mire, tainted, threatened and lied, even I wouldn’t have been willing to co-operate with these thieves in the management.
What is more, after Živković’s contract has expired, Benfica did not have to pay a single cent for the boy, who is worth 6,5 million euros according to Transfermarkt. Though some rumours speak about 4 million (or even 5 million) euros Živković got for his signature, not a single cent from this amount will reach the bank accounts at ul. Humska.
So, dear everyone in the management, from Iliev through the fat lard Vazura to the corrupted Vuletić, you can eat shit now. You wasted a wonderfully talented, young player, whose heart and soul were for Partizan only. You wasted him, because you were way too selfish and thought you can do anything without consequences. You deserve it all.
Žile,
I wish you to be VERY successful at Benfica. Conquer the hearts of fans there, play, dribble, score goals, show them what a talent you are. Improve as much as it’s just possible, bring the best out of yourself. Be a world class player. I wish you to be mentioned together with players like Alessandro Del Piero, Eric Cantona, Paolo Maldini or Marco Van Basten. Be the role model for children from Serbia through Japan to Chile. You deserve it. And then, please, return to Partizan! Until then we try to clean the club from this sicko leadership.
Good luck!
PS: Give our regards to Šaponja :)
Finally a few photos about Živković undergoing medical examinations by Benfica’s team doctors:
This weekend is the re-start of the football season, it is high time to look through the further happenings of the transfer market. There had been a blogpost earlier about it, you can read it here.
Of course the Živković-saga hasn’t ended yet. The final episode (or at least the next season) will come some time in the beginning of the summer.
Andrija Živković at the match against Augsburg
On 17th January FK Partizan signed Ivory Coast player Cédric Gogoua. Gogua plays as a defender, he is 21 years old
though there had been rumours about his actual age. Some sources claimed he is at least 23 if not older, but there has been no confirmation, nor deny about it
and he signed to Partizan for 4 years.
Cédric Gogoua
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
In the meantime there had been rumours about Zoran Milinković as well. The ex-head coach is allegedly still the employee of FK Partizan - but this time as a scout.
Partizan’s ice hockey team got five new players from Russia: 29-year-old Anton Zhukov, 25-year-old Alexander Vlasov, 26-year-old Aleksey Tifonov, 27-year-old Igor Zubov and 25-year-old Stepan Krivov.
Alexei Tikhonov
Alexander Vlasov
Anton Zhukov
Igor Zubov
Stepan Krivov
(photos: Facebook/Hokejaški klub Partizan (Fan page))
Meanwhile a very nerve-racking period of the transfer season started, titled as "should he stay or should he go"
around three players: Ivan Bandalovski, Valeri Bojinov and Aboubakar Oumarou.
For long it looked that Ivan Bandalovski must leave ul. Humska. Head coach Ivan Tomić allegedly made it clear that he does not need the Bulgarian defender, he is free to go wherever he wants. Yet some time in the first days of February the management changed their mind and quickly extended the contract with Bandalovski. So, Bandalovski will stay, his place is as solid as a piece of concrete.
Valeri Bojinov was on the list of an unnamed Chinese team. Partizan’s price for the Bulgarian striker was 2 million euros, the Chinese part offered 1 million. For quite a while it seemed, Partizan will still make a deal, but eventually the business failed to get done.
Bojinov in the meantime had a sad tour in the Serbian media claiming that he doesn’t want to leave Partizan at all, but he knows well that the club is in a very bad financial condition because of the Živković-case, and he certainly puts the team’s interest ahead of his own. But, sighed Bojinov, how much I would have wanted to win an eternal derby with Partizan and to score at least 12 goals in the season.
Well, you got the chance, meatball. But then keep on scoring those goals, because I fucking won’t have enough nerves to count your missed-out chances.
Yet it’s still not clear what happens to Aboubakar Oumarou. He also got an offer from China. The offer seemed to be very serious, the press even got informations about the alleged price (1,2 million euros), Aboubakar was told to pack his suitcases, because he is going to China.
Then he didn’t.
It was that time of the year when Chinese people celebrated the Lunar New Year. It’s the biggest holiday in China, it lasts at least for a week. The Chinese negotiator just said, they’d be back after the holiday season, then they disappeared. At Partizan the management was just shrugging being puzzled, then Iliev appeared in front of the press and said, all right, then Aboubakar stays at Partizan, because (citation!) the management carefully considered the interests of the team and they thought that it would definitely be for Partizan’s best interest if the Cameroonian stayed in Belgrade.
They obviously realized that if they sell Aboubakar, there will be only 2 (two) strikers left: Bojinov and Fofana, who just returned back from loan. There are two youngsters as well, 17-year-old Đorđe Jovanović and 16-year-old Dušan Vlahović, who are both extremely talented, but well, in some cases routine and experience are essential.
Only one day passed after Iliev’s announcement, when the Chinese negotiator sent their official offer for Aboubakar (price tag: 1 million euros). So, Iliev took a deep breath
I imagine how hard he could be sweating
stepped again to the journalists and announced that well, erm, ahem, you know, we may actually still sell out our Cameroonian player for a special bargain. That’s how things stand at the moment, as soon as there’s any more news, everyone will be informed.
The other big event of the transfer season was that Nikola Ninković signed to Italian team Genoa, but he was put immediately on loan to Chievo until the end of the season.
Partizan terminated the contract with several players. Nikola Trujić was discharged on 1st February. Fabricio was sent back to Brazil. Predrag Luka was also fired. Filip Knežević left by himself and signed to Čukarički. Among "black sheeps" only Živko Živković stayed at Partizan, but he is exiled to Teleoptik together with the other Živković, Andrija.
There were news about the possible selling of Vulićević, too - Turkish team Sivasspor wanted to buy him, but they couldn’t agree, as Iliev reported later. Russian team Rubin Kazan wanted to sign Marko Jevtović, but Partizan priced him to 2,5 million euros, and that was too much for the Russians.
Other than them there were those whom Partizan would have wanted to sign, but failed: Dino Ndlovu from South Africa (his club didn’t want to sell him), Seydouba Soumah from Guinea (no info about why this signing failed, it looked almost 100 % sure) as well as Léandre Tawamba from Cameroon (his team priced him for 1,25 million, that was too much for Partizan).
As a summary, 6 players arrived (Marko Jovanović, Bojan Šaranov, Nemanja Mihajlović, Luiz Everton, Cédric Gogoua + Fofana returned from loan) - 8 players left (Babović, Grbić, Fabricio, Šaponjić, Ninković, Trujić, Luka, Knežević) and two other players’ fate is still not clear (Andrija Živković, Aboubakar Oumarou). I do not say any predictions, we will see everything this weekend.
Until then here is a fresh, crispy team photo about FK Partizan.
- Andrija Živković’s contract with Partizan expires this June. The club must either sell the player as soon as possible or they must extend the contract with him, because if they can’t sell him before his contract expires, then the club must pay a punishment fee of 2,5 million euros to a certain Pini Zahavi
- This agreement with Pini Zahavi has a key role in this story, yet the contract about this agreement hasn’t been seen by anyone. Both Andrija Živković and his father claim that they had never seen the contract in question, nor they had signed it. Those who supposed to know about it, e.g. the former FK Partizan president Dragan Đurić denies everything, while the club’s sports director Albert Nagy didn’t say any fact about the contract.
- Fans are upset, while current sports director Ivica Iliev leads the most disgusting atrocity campaign in the media against Živković, blaming the young player as the only scapegoat for the situation emerged. This campain, that sometimes crossed even the borders of perversion divided the fans even more.
Before we continue the story, let’s take a good look at this Pini Zahavi. Those average fans who get their infos from reading the news might not know much about him, apart from he is from Israel and works as a football agent. During the past days I searched a bit about Zahavi on my own pat, just to know who is he and what is his actual role in this tale.
Pini Zahavi started buying and selling football players in the early 1990's. Since then he became one of the most influental - if not the most influental - so-called "super agent". He owns the rights of such players as Carlos Tévez or Neymar. It's not only football he is involved in (though football is his main activity), he is in close contact with top category businessmen, politicians and CEO's. It was mainly his "credit" that Roman Abramovich became the owner of FC Chelsea. Zahavi has interests mainly in Premier League, though he is the owner of Belgian team Mouscron among others. He bought the Belgian team some time in 2010 for 8,5 million euros, as he said "for the price of a young talent". For this he used a dummy company in Malta with Jean-Luc Gripond (former FC Nantes president) and a certain Teny Yerima, a football agent from Cameroon as co-owners. He has other interests of the same kind in Luxembourg, Gibraltar and the US as well. He is the co-owner of Quality Sports Investments as well as Football Ireland (the owners of these companies are Roman Abramovich, Jorge Mendes - another influental football agent - and Peter Kenyon, FC Chelsea's CEO). He has numerous other offshore businesses all around the world.
Pini Zahavi
(photo: theguardian.com)
When FIFA banned third party ownership at player transfers (agents and investors are prohibited to take part in transfers), Pini Zahavi and other dodgy rascals found out how they can avoid regulations by using legal loopholes to still make profit. They bought insignificant small clubs that were on the verge of bankruptcy (sometimes they immediately sold it on paper to a close friend or business partner), and as from then on they were club owners (either by person or by those "coverers" mentioned earlier) they could buy any player they wanted. Then these players were soon sold to top category clubs for a lot of money. Zahavi keeps at least 4-5 more clubs in his hand out of Mouscron, e.g. Apollon Limassol from Cyprus or Maccabi Haifa from Israel among others. FIFA is helpless, because no illegal activity can be proven against them.
Zahavi & co. got interested in Serbian football some time around 2014, presuming it as a great chance for great business. For this we must know that Serbian clubs are very poor, even Partizan and even the club on the other side of the street (aka Crvena Zvezda). Serbian clubs have no sponsors, they don't get any share from TV-broadcasting rights, their only income is when they can sell their players. Partizan and Zvezda literally asked these foreign agents to help them. These agents (Zahavi among others) paid the players' salaries and later they sold them to foreign clubs. One of the most well-known agents was a certain Fali Ramadani, his name might sound very familiar for many. He is the owner of LIAN sports agency, which has monopoly over Partizan-players. This Ramadani became Zahavi's "coverer" in Serbia. Ramadani's job is to sell and buy players, while Zahavi keeps the log rolling from his Tel-Aviv cave.
Back in 2012 the old scoundrel Zahavi bought all the rights of Lazar Marković from Partizan. He literally owned 100 % of Markec’s economical rights. He is said to pay 7 million euros for them to Partizan (others deny it, saying that Zahavi never pays more than 2-3 million for a young player). He bought Andrija Živković’s rights for 1,5 million euros with the reservation that he’ll get 25 % of Živković’s next transfer amount. This is the money he won’t receive, if Partizan can’t sell Živković before the expiration of his contract. Zahavi fails to get his money, and Partizan must pay the punishment they agreed about in the contract in question.
Former FK Partizan president Dragan Đurić was eventually willing to tell a few details about the Živković-case, but only after some mud-throwing. He claims that clubs do have the right to sell the players’ economical rights and back then, when the Zahavi-contract was signed, they indeed didn’t tell about it to the player and his family. The reason, as Đurić says was that they sold those rights that were owned by the club and not those owned by the family. (That was all the media could pull out of Đurić. Apart from this he keeps on washing his hands saying that he wasn’t even there when the club signed this contract with Zahavi. Yet he claims that the contract is 100 % legal.)
The media campaign against Živković continued. Someone released an open letter in the name of Partizan’s Youth School, which was nothing more than a fusty moralizing. In short, they demanded Andrija to be a nice, obedient boy, not to forget where he came from. Sports director Ivica Iliev continued the most disgusting, sanctimoniousatrocitycampaign in the media.
Iliev claims that they wanted to give a "blank contract" to Andrija, suggesting that the boy should write down under what kind of conditions he would be willing to extend his contract. Whatever Živković asks, the club will do it, anything that makes him extend the contract. What is more, Iliev even ordered TV-cameras to the meeting room to broadcast it live. The whole scene didn’t take more than 15 minutes. Živković stood up without writing down a single word and walked out. Neither he signed it, nor he wrote anything into the blank contract.
Finally the management decided to suspend Živković for the rest of the season if he is not willing to extend his contract. They gave a deadline of 3rd February at 12:00 pm, Živković could decide until then whether they sign the contract or not.
What makes it especially grotesque is that Živković’s contract will expire only in June 2016. Until then they could have had more than enough time to decide and agree about the possible extending. Whose interest was it (and why) to have this soap opera in the winter break?
It did have its consequences. Jovica Živković released another open letter, where he told the entire Partizan-management where to get off. The very angry letter does not reveal further facts, the furious father declares only one thing: after this disgusting mud-throwing his son will not sign any contract until the summer. We didn’t have to wait too long for Iliev’s reaction. The sports director didn’t spare his poisonous verbal knives from Jovica Živković.
Finally, as anyone could guess it, Andrija Živković didn’t sign anything until the Thursday noon deadline. He had to leave the training camp in Cyprus, and from now on he must visit the trainings of Teleoptik together with all the other black sheeps of Partizan (Lazar Ćirković, Živko Živković, Predrag Luka, Filip Knežević).
The most tragic in it is that it is Andrija Živković, whom nobody ever asked what he actually wants.
The team released an open letter, if you have a strong stomach, you can read it here.
What is sure now, with this step Partizan pushed their fingers in their own eyes. After this scandal Andrija Živković will surely not extend his contract with the club. He will be a free agent, he can go wherever he wants, and Partizan must pay to Zahavi and Ramadani. Other than this, they’ll lose an amazingly talented, goal-scorer world champion right wing. And let’s not talk about the consequences in the long run.
Disclaimer: This blogpost does not want to dispense justice, nor does it want to tell anyone where to get off. It’s not this blog’s job but of the legal services. I just try to summarize all those that happened so far - of course I'll include my own point of view as well, but that's strictly my very own, personal opinion, not some sort of "ex cathedra" manifestation. Anyone can add their opinion, in a cultured, educated manner.
As I wrote in an earlier blogpost, we could all have a sense at the end of the autumn season that Andrija Živković would not stay at Partizan. News spoke about a number of big, European clubs that would have gladly signed the young world champion, but none of them succeeded. Then came the news about a contract with the former manager, Pini Zahavi. The contract included a clause, namely if Živković is not sold until his contract with Partizan expires, then the club must pay almost two million euros of retention money to the Israeli manager.
An average fan would feel dizzy even at this point. What’s this?... What do you mean that the club must pay retention money, if they can’t sell the kid until the expiration of the contract?... Whose idea was this, and most of all, who agreed with it and who signed it?... For whom did it serve good and why? What did those lawyers say who examined the contract before signing it? Has any lawyer examined it at all, or they just signed it and done?...
At this point Partizan’s sports director, Ivica Iliev entered the picture and started his long media-tour. He told to Kurir if they can’t sell Živković, or Živković doesn’t extend his contract with the club, then Partizan may go bankrupt because of that retention money they have to pay to Zahavi (at this point the amount of money was already 2,5 million euros).
"If [Živković] doesn’t extend his contract [with Partizan], then Partizan must pay punishment fee. It means that we can put a padlock on the club. More than 200 families can find themselves in the street, and Andrija will be remembered as the player who made the club going bankrupt", cites Mozzartsport.
Maybe it’s just me, but Iliev seemed to start a kind of manipulative game even at this point. Nevertheless a day later Andrija Živković’s father, Jovica released an open letter. Apart from the heavy, overheated style of the letter
honestly, which parent would not be angry in such a situation, when it’s about their child?...
Živković sr. writes about background details that are at least thought-provoking. He even attached documents to his letter. In short: the father says, Partizan’s then-general secretary Darko Grubor claimed that Andrija Živković is their possession - most probably technically. It means, whatever happens to Živković (transfer, etc.), it is all Partizan’s tether, aka nobody, not even parents can have any word in it. The father goes further: it was the club (and its then-management) that pressured his son into this Pini Zahavi-contract. According to him, nobody was informed about this contract, neither the parents, nor the player and his agent. The father claims, the contract is hidden at a non-public place.
Obviously it’s somewhere at the club, but they will surely never put it public.
Furthermore, Jovica Živković denies those charges that blame him (and his son) with materialism, to be motivated by money only. The father adds, even Real Madrid (!!!) wanted to sign Andrija for 15 million euros (!!!), even though they would have immediately put him on loan. The father claims, other top European clubs had offers for his son, but they refused all of them, because Andrija wanted to play for Partizan.
After this a group of people who are allegedly Partizan-fans also released an open letter, in which they called the young player scapegoat (with additional offensive words), even calling him "zvezdaš".
As if they would have forgotten about Živković’s goals, matches, tricks he did for Partizan as well as his world championship.
Interesting that this open letter was published by a certain Vladimir Vuletić on his own Facebook profile. It’s that Vladimir Vuletić, who is otherwise the chairman of Partizan’s supervisory board.
"Fan letter". Yes. Sure. You get what I mean.
At this point an unbelievably disgusting mud-throwing has started. First Albert Nagy spoke, who was Partizan’s sports director during the Pini Zahavi-contract. He didn’t say many details, rather he just washed his hands. Then spoke Saša Ilić, who only made the upheaval even bigger with his statement, dividing the ab ovo confused, angry and puzzled fans.
I can speak about Saša Ilić only with the biggest possible respect, and now, as a simple, average fan I ask him with the biggest respect never ever to speak in public about what was said behind the doors of the locker-room.
Then even former Partizan goalkeeper Vladimir Stojković spoke, though nobody asked him. On the other hand, as he is in Israel now, he surely doesn’t know any more details about this case than an ordinary, news-reading fan. Meanwhile (upon non-confirmed news) the documents of the Živković-contract are at the police, but nobody mentioned what they investigate and who reported the case to the authorities.
The management keeps silent. (Vazura was just rolling his eyes.) Neither the current, nor the former management members are willing to speak (except for Albert Nagy). Former FK Partizan president Dragan Đurić denied everything. The others didn’t speak a word.
In the meantime Iliev tours around the entire sports media, keeping the public under pressure saying that it's all Živković’s fault, because the player prefers money more than Partizan. This made Živković’s current manager, Predrag Đorđević upset so much that even he released an open letter, in which he turns off the entire Partizan-management saying that it’s not else than blackmailing a 19-year-old kid, who would like to just play football for his beloved team, yet this beloved team’s management makes it impossible. While Iliev keeps the public, the players, the fans and Andrija Živković himself under pressure.
If you allow me to be this personal: I’m terrified by Iliev’s manipulations. I don’t know what he wants with it all, why he is doing it and for whom/what, but he should stop it right now, because it reached the disgusting level. And if I may add a thought: if I were Živković, I would also not extend my contract. After he gave his heart and soul to the club, that he played and scored even being injured, after all this he is thrown away like an used piece of rag and he is dragged into the mire in front of the public... His heart goes for Partizan, but I personally can understand that he is fed up with it all. He is the most innocent of it all, yet it’s still his name that’s tainted.
The story hasn’t ended yet, but the next sequel is the topic of another blogpost.
In this post I try to go through the names of all players who arrived at or left Partizan during the winter transfer season. The list is far from being complete, it focuses only on the events around the football and basketball team. (At the other departments of Partizan there have been either no changes or no news about the possible changes.)
Two new players arrived at the football team right after the end of the autumn season. Marko Jovanović, defender, played for Voždovac previously. Bojan Šaranov, goalkeeper, spent 7 seasons at OFK Beograd, being on loan at a number of other teams. Before Partizan he played for Ergotelis in Greece.
Marko Jovanović
Bojan Šaranov
(photos: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
Just a few days after signing the contract with Partizan Šaranov went out to party - with not else than the former players of the neighbouring red-striped team as well as their current team captain. The phenomenal night was eternalized on Instagram - it’s still there, the players celebrate with a big bottle of whisky. If you don’t mind, I won’t upload or embed the photo, because I do not want to puke. If you still want to see it, I give you a link of a news site, where you can take a look. Enjoy (or not).
It also means that Živko Živković will probably not needed anymore in ul. Humska. Živković told a few times to the media that he would probably not start the spring season with Partizan, but still he could not sign to any other team yet. (He is even included in the name list of those players who travel with Partizan to Cyprus for a winter training camp.)
Indirectly, but still a winter transfer event for a (former) Partizan-player: Slaviša Jokanović signed for the head coach post of FC Fulham.
(photo: Facebook/Fulham FC Official)
At the end of December Nemanja Mihajlović was signed from Rad. Meanwhile Partizan’s basketball player Danilo Anđušić confirmed that he would not extend his contract with the team. In the first week of January he signed to Polish team Anwil Wloclawek.
A photo posted by Danilo Andjusic (@daniloandjusic) on
The football team’s new head coach, Ivan Tomić started his job at Partizan at the end of December as well. He was signed after Ljubinko Drulović had been discharged at the end of the autumn season. Tomić started it fair and square, he openly told he would not need a number of players. He even told names: Stefan Babović and Petar Grbić was clearly not in the new coach’s favour. The media mentioned even Bojinov and Fabricio, too.
As for Stefan Babović, Partizan terminated the contract with him right today. The official statement stated "mutual agreement". There’s no reliable information about Fabricio, but he is not included among those who travel to Cyprus for training camp. Petar Grbić signed to Turkish super league team Akhisaspor on the first week of January.
(photo: akhisarspor.com)
The Andrija Živković-saga started on the very last day of December. There is only one thing sure, that the young midfielder will not stay at Partizan. During the past days/weeks the most bizarre rumours were circulating about him: sports sites claimed that Borussia Dortmund wanted to sign him, then Benfica popped up as a possible future team. A Chinese team offered 1,3 million euros for him, but Partizan rejected it. In the meantime Živković got a new manager: his contract expired with the previous one, Pini Zahavi from Israel and they did not extend it. His new manager is Predrag Đorđević.
Yes, it’s THAT Pini Zahavi, who had a long number of controversial steps, mostly about players’ rights and transfer money, and not only with Andrija Živković.
Partizan got offers for other players, too: Bojinov was targeted by Spanish and Chinese clubs, but on one hand Partizan demanded at least 2 million euros from him, on the other Bojinov told to the media (in his usual style...) that he wouldn’t leave ul. Humska until he can win at least one eternal derby, and/or he scores at least 12 goals in a season. Aboubakar and Brašanac was also among those who could be (or could have been) sold. Clubs from China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey wanted to sign the Cameroonian, Partizan priced him for 1,5 million euros. (Aboubakar was also not included among those players who travel to Cyprus.) Brašanac got offers from two renowned Belgian clubs; one of them offered 2,7 million euros for the midfielder, but Partizan management told them, Brašanac was not for sale.
Among those who possibly arrive at Partizan, the first two names were two Romanian players (Denis Alibec and Constantin Budescu), but head coach Tomić later denied the rumours. Brazilian/Belorussian Renan Bressan was also mentioned, but these news were denied by Iliev. As always, in almost every transfer season, Cléo's name also came up. The Brazilian would gladly return to Partizan, but Iliev said, there are serious obstacles in the way.
The other big soap opera of the winter transfer season is the story of Vojvodina, Partizan and Mirko Ivanić. Partizan wants to sign Vojvodina’s midfielder since forever, yet negotiations always come to a halt after a while. Vojvodina constantly turns the price of the player higher and higher, while Partizan claimed, they can’t and don’t want to pay more than 1 million euros for Ivanić.
Nota bene: the neigbouring striped team also checked in at Vojvodina with an offer for Ivanić. They would pay 1,4 million euros. The funniest/most tragic fact is though that it’s Ivanić himself whom nobody actually asked what he wants. He admitted to a sports site that he in fact doesn’t want to sign to any of these two teams, because he’d prefer to go abroad, but it’s highly possible that his current club will put the kid under very heavy pressure so that eventually he will have to sign to one or the other.
The biggest boom of the transfer season was definitely Ivan Šaponjić signing to SL Benfica for five and a half years.
(photos: Twitter)
The price was allegedly 3 million euros or so (there was another version that he would have been sold for only 1,5 million, but then he stays at Partizan on loan for the end of the season, but it seems he stays in Lisbon).
Finally, the punch line: Duško Vujošević signed to French team Limoges as head coach, this way he can work again with two of his former players, Léo Westermann and Bo McCalebb.
As the closing of this blogpost here is a photo about the football players getting ready for the training camp in Cyprus. And those who think it's Ismael Beko Fofana on the left side of the photo, well, they are right.
(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
The second part of the highlights will be posted at the end of the transfer season.
It all started with the Nikšić-based home team telling the press a few days earlier that Partizan-fans would not be allowed to the game, because nobody needs a mass fight between Grave Diggers and local fans. They even told their own fans not to bring any banners or flags, nor anything that gives any hint that there are organized fan groups present at the game. Only individuals, please, nice and civilized.
After all these tonight 300 Partizan-fans could make it to the Nikšić sports hall.
They even had this banner
(photos: Twitter)
Meanwhile the team warmed up.
(photos: Twitter)
(photo: aba-liga.com)
There have been not too happy rumours circulating around the team in the past days. Danilo Anđušić’s contract expired, the shooting guard left Partizan (news speak about a Polish team named Anwil Wloclawek signing him - the team takes part in Euroleague). Gossips talked about Jones, too, being unsatisfied with the team’s performance in Adriatic League and he’d like to terminate his contract with Partizan - though for this he’d have to pay a 6-digit retention money to the team. (As he - allegedly - said, it’s not money that’s behind it, the reason is purely our crappy performance.) Božo Đumić, and even Edo Murić was mentioned among those who might possibly leave soon. (Later Đumić denied these news, as for Murić, it is possible that it was a false report.)
So, as you can see, we were preparing against Sutjeska in an especially positive and enthusiastic atmosphere.
(Or not.)
Later you’ll get a blogpost about all transfer news, rumours and facts.
Kick-off
(photo: aba-liga.com)
Wilson immediately scored (0:2), right after that referees whistled a foul on Vitkovac (why? who knows...), Sutjeska equalized (2:2). Then, for quite a long time, nothing happened. A lot of missed-out attempts on both sides (all of them were rebounding balls), then after almost 3 minutes the home team scored (4:2). Then again (7:2). They even got a free throw (8:2).
We got nervous. We missed out even more attempts while we made a lot of fouls. Sutjeska scored another 3-pointer (11:2), we still couldn’t throw one single basket.
At this point Wilson came off court and Cvetković entered the game. He shook the team up a bit. We reduced the difference to 13:10 (points earned by Cvetković and Jones), but Sutjeska quickly scored 5 more points - the second basket was a 3-pointer buzzer beater. The first quarter ended with 18:10.
The second quarter started, we made it to 18:17 (Đumić, Vrabac, Aranitović), what is more, Aranitović brought us up to 20:19. Nothing seemed to be problematic even at 22:19, Cvetković came, saw and scored (22:21), but here Sutjeska put their top gun into action. They sent Ratko Varda on court.
Ratko Varda is a phenomenon. Not a heart-warming one, but definitely a phenomenon. With his 36 years he is one of those players with the most routine in the League. Back then he started to play in Partizan, then he took an excursion to the NBA, then to Turkey, Spain, Poland, but he played even in Lebanon, while he regularly returned to the former Yugoslavia to play for this or that team. 213 cm height, brutal muscles, stern look, illegitimate beard and fully tattooed upper arms.
Partizan-players all look small compared to Varda (in white)
(photo: aba-liga.com)
He is surely a nice guy off court, but I bet he himself cranks up pretty much this "big bad bastard" look. After all, it’s an excellent weapon against any opponent. He walks out to the court, looks around with that nasty beard and the players of the other team run home and hide under their blankets.
So, at 22:21 Sutjeska sent their top gun on the court and they immediately made a 10-point series. Just for the sake of it. From 22:21 it became 32:21. Jones could score one (32:23), but Sutjeska was ruthless.
They made it to 47:23.
15-point series. I write it down with letters, too: fifteen points. They scored this much.
We scored none.
They ran through us. They threw 3-pointers one after the others.
We scored once, at the very end, from free throw. The first half finished with 47:25, Sutjeska had more than 20 points of advantage.
In the second half we continued where we stopped.
What the hell are we doing in the Adriatic League? We were a second-league team compared to Sutjeska. We were weak and enervated and had a total lack of ideas. Duško Vujošević would have torn everyone’s head off their neck, if he had been there.
We made it to 50:30 with free throws and Murić’s 3-pointer. We tried to keep the 20-point difference, but we tend to fail. Meanwhile Sutjeska could allow themselves to miss out attempts just for fun, and still they were leading to 58:39. They did whatever they wanted. We finished the third quarter with 65:44. Those points we gained, we made mostly from free throws.
(photo: aba-liga.com)
In the last quarter again Cvetković and Jones fought and reduced the difference to 69:50. The 20-point difference was still back (72:52). At 77:55 all Average Fan could wonder about with a dry smile whether Sutjeska will be able to make the 30-point difference. Or which team’s performance is worse in this season, the basketball team’s or the football team’s. At 79:59 even that came to my mind that the basketball team’s management earlier made it sure in the press that they fully support Petar Božić, though if I were the head coach, I would probably resign myself, to save the leftovers of my reputation, especially that we lost 12 matches out of 18.
In the meantime Jones cored a 3-pointer (79:62) and here, at the very end we made a 3:9 series, but that wasn’t enough. Probably not even a miracle would have helped us tonight.
(photo: Twitter)
At the press conference after the game a journalist openly asked Petar Božić whether he was thinking about resigning, but the head coach immediately replied with a no, saying that it had never even come to his mind. Dear fellow fans, we should prepare for the worst. It might happen that next season we will have to fight even for getting into Adriatic League.
The football team has departed to clash with Bavarian team FC Augsburg tomorrow in the UEFA Europa League competition.
Still at the Belgrade airport, everything’s as usual. Balažic is optimistic, Andrija Živković is sleepy
HEY EVERYONE!!! GRBIĆ IS ALIVE!!!!
Travelling on the escalator is fun
Dear Everyone,
this photo is the essence of everything FK Partizan at this moment. Save this photo and keep it well so you’ll always be able to remember that even such things can happen
When one photo says more than 1000 words
In the meantime Živković woke up and now signing enthusiastically
At the airport in München
...wait a minute, we must buy some souvenir at the duty free shop...
(photos: partizan.rs)
The match starts tomorrow at 19:00. RTS 2 broadcasts it live from 18:45.
***
Now it’s official: two former players, Kosta Perović and Andrej Magdevski have returned to KK Partizan. Additionally two other players are also signed: TBB Trier’s Adin Vrabac and Aleksandar Cvetković - this latter one was put on loan by Crvena Zvezda to MZT Skopje, from there he signed to Partizan.
There are rumours that Danilo Anđušić might also return to Partizan, but so far there’s no official confirmation about it.
Adriatic League starts this week, KK Partizan plays on Friday at 21:00 against Metalac. ArenaSport 1 will broadcast it live.
