More and more black, less and less white

Bad results, the dominance of Red Star in the domestic league, unfulfilled promises, a dilapidated stadium, dissatisfied players and negligence of the current management - in short, Partizan Football Club remembers much better days. The long-standing dissatisfaction of the fans due to the situation in which the club found itself has long since spilled over from the stadium to the streets, which were replaced by the stands in Humska for the huge number of "black and white" supporters.

"Management away", are two words that are heard most often at Partizan matches. These two words have recently dawned over the entire eastern stand. Nevertheless, despite numerous protests, announcements and chants, both in the stands and outside, the leadership of the "black and white" is still clinging to their seats.

There are, above all, two names - club president Milorad Vučelić and general manager Miloš Vazura. "We look at the club we love and we see a patient in the terminal phase, and there is nothing we can do to help him. To some extent, we as fans are also to blame for the fact that we allowed all of this to pass, that they do not address anyone and do not account to anyone," longtime "black and white" fan Vili Tsarević told "Vreme".

Some younger fans also share a similar opinion. Twenty-two-year-old Miloš Zekić, the great-grandson of the former president of the Yugoslav Sports Association, General Zekić, after whom he was named, points out for "Vreme" that "it is very difficult to watch the decay of what you have loved since childhood, and it is even more difficult to think that there is no solution in sight." .

APPEAL FOR A FREE PARTIZAN

The management of Partizan has so far remained deaf to the cries from the stands. However, the circumstances of the fan-management war have changed. For the first time, the former players of the club joined the fight against the current management. The appeal for a free Partizan was signed by people who left a mark in the childhood of several different generations: from Ivan Golec, Nikica Klinčarski, Dževad Prekazi and Zvonk Varga, through Goran Bogdanović, Damir Čakar, Goran Trobok and Saša Ilić - who played as many as 876 games for Partizan match - up to Vladimir Stojković, Lazar Marković and Nikola Ninković. A total of 79 of them are behind the appeal, which demands the responsibility of the administration, as they say, of the kidnapped and captured club.

"Revolted by the dishonorable actions of the Club's leaders who usurped law and justice and who, by violating the law, the powers and the Statute of FC Partizan, are leading the Club to ruin, we - former players, coaches and prominent sports workers - demand from the judicial authorities of the Republic of Serbia, state institutions and the holders of the executive power to get involved without delay in solving the situation in FC Partizan. We stand firmly united and determined to persevere in this fight, so that the illegal action of the illegally elected authorities of the Administration and the further humiliation and collapse of the Club, which wanders through the night like the wreckage of a once-magnificent tower block, will finally be put on the road," the appeal reads.

The demands are explicit, and the most important points include the irrevocable resignation of all the governing bodies of the club, including the confirmation of the resignation of the president, the irrevocable resignation of the general director and members of the Board of Directors, the dissolution of the current convocation of the Assembly and the irrevocable resignation of each of the 41 representatives. Also, the introduction of temporary measures in FC Partizan in accordance with the law, the initiative for the urgent convening of the electoral assembly of FC Partizan at which the new Club Statute would be voted on and the urgent implementation of investigative actions by the public prosecutor against the managers of FC Partizan on the basis of Articles 224a and 227 of the Criminal Code are also requested. of the Code relating to criminal offenses against the economy.

"THE FISH STINKS FROM THE HEAD"

One of the signatories of the appeal is Dževad Prekazi, legendary Partizan football player and Yugoslav national team member, who spent nine years in Humska. He tells "Vreme" that he does not believe that the administration will voluntarily leave its functions.

"If they wanted to leave them voluntarily, they would have done it a few years ago. In sports, especially football, after bad results, people should leave and someone else should come. Or to convene an assembly where a new president and a new administration will be elected. It didn't occur to them even after all the disastrous results. They are still there. I don't know who keeps them there. I assume that they have a thick back", points out the former first team player of the "Black and Whites".

Nevertheless, Prekazi believes that changes can happen: "We can no longer tolerate the collapse of a giant like Partizan. Someone has been building it for years, from 1945 to here. We hope that we will find a way to successfully overcome the biggest crisis that has ever befallen FC Partizan and, in general, the Yugoslav Sports Association. I am always an optimist. If I didn't have hope, I wouldn't approach it at all".

The former Partizan and Galatasaray football player is also sad because of the way the "black and white" management treats the club's legends.

"Knowing what has been happening for many years in Partizan, it is terribly painful. They didn't extend my contract at the academy just because I said in an interview that 'the fish stinks from the head'. The truth bothers them. I came with the best intentions, but I was chased away like a rag. I'm not the only one. They did that to many. Nikica Klinčarski, who played the biggest games in Partizan. Well, to the late Moca Vukotić. No one from Partizan attended the tournament organized by his children. It's a shame. Honorable, good, honest people who have made careers - that bothers them. And of course it bothers them, because who are they? Who are these people who run the club, who, with the exception of Milorad Vučelić, no one even knows?"

THROUGH GODFATHER CONNECTIONS

photo: Tanjug

The answer to the question "who are they" is not difficult to give. At the same time, their work biography during the decade of leading Partizan can provide an answer to another question - how the club from Humska became a shadow of the former great.

Miloš Vazura is the first to take the stage. He came to Humska in 2014, at the initiative of the then vice-president of the Yugoslav Sports Association, Vojislav Nedić, father of Novak Nedić, general secretary of the Government of Serbia and a member of the Serbian Progressive Party. Nedić Jr. is, coincidentally, the godfather of Miloš Vazura. That's how 27-year-old Miloš, with a rather meager biography - in which the most significant item was that he was an adviser and assistant to the then Minister of Justice Nikola Selaković for two years - reached the most responsible position in FK Partizan, reclining in the general director's chair. It is still in it ten years later.

Miloš Vazura's attitude towards the club is perhaps best described by an anecdote from 2017. Then Partizan, led by coach Marko Nikolić, managed to win the title of national champion. However, the championship parade of "black and white" fans on the streets of Belgrade passed without a trophy because Miloš Vazura decided to take the trophy to a friend's wedding. According to the media, it was stolen there by Red Star fans, so Vazura had to pay to have the trophy returned to him. Whether the guild paid from its own pocket or from the club's coffers is still unknown.

A well-informed source of "Vremena", whose name is known to the editorial staff, confirms that Vazura was appointed to the position according to the party's key.

"The Serbian Progressive Party started entering institutions and bodies in 2012, and FC Partizan managed to resist it for about two years. Then the enslavement took place, that is harmonization with the state. Partizan, like some other structures, was not very lucky because it was attacked by, I would say, malicious and incompetent people. Miloš Vazura was brought into Partizan according to the party key, as the godfather of Novak Nedić. The guy who previously organized only graduate excursions at the Faculty of Law was appointed to the position from which he should lead a very complex system. How is that possible", asks our interlocutor.

He adds that Vazura's role in Partizan is justified by the club's results in previous years. "The effect can be analyzed from different sides, both in terms of results, organization and infrastructure... Whichever side you look at, it is catastrophic. It is simply impossible for someone to be so incapable of doing the work assigned to him".

MILORAD VUČELIC FUSE AND SHOCK ABSORBER

photo: Tanjug

The duo would not be complete without the president of FK Partizan, Milorad Vučelić. If Vazura took office as a man completely unknown to the public, the same cannot be said for his senior associate. Vučelić became the president of Partizan in 2016, after several months of struggle and several unsuccessful election assemblies. His work biography is rich. He is known as a former high-ranking SPS official and general director of RTS during the Milosevic regime, and today as the editor-in-chief of "Novosti" and the founder of the "Pečat" weekly.

However, his current function in Partizan is not clear. He officially resigned last summer - for the second time - in order to continue to appear at events in the following months as the president of the club. Partizan's statute stipulates that, after submitting his resignation, he can remain in that position for a maximum of 30 days. Our source explains that, according to the statute, the new president had to be elected within a month, and that, according to the letter of the law, the mandate of the Management Board ended the moment Vučelić resigned.

"Beyond the statute, I see it as a kind of fuse in Partizan, which is politically set up to, in a way, absorb the pressures from below and from above", according to our interlocutor. He adds that Vučelić's lightning role is clear from an anecdote from seven years ago, when Partizan won the national championship title for the last time.

"That famous year of 2017, when Partizan won the title, somewhere from 15 to 20 thousand fans went to Nis to defend their advantage in the standings. Several people in the west stand of Chair Stadium testified that Vučelić spent half of the time on the phone, allegedly talking to the President of the country, Aleksandar Vučić, who at that moment was returning from China and gave him an angry monologue because of the Partizan fans chanting.

We asked the club from Humska what role Milorad Vučelić plays in Partizan today and whether he is still in the position of club president, but we did not receive an answer until writing this text.

DILAMINATED BUILDING IN HUMSKJA

As a result, Partizan has not been the champion of the Super League for seven years in a row. He came closest to the trophy in the 2021/22 season. when he remained two points behind Red Star. He finished the following season in fourth place in the table, while suffering some of the heaviest defeats in his history - an example is the game against Mladost GAT in the yard of the "black and whites" ended with 0:4 in favor of the guests.

Organizationally and infrastructurally, Partizan's stadium cannot match the home of its eternal rival in any aspect. Although "Rajko Mitić" also has its shortcomings, it is in incomparably better condition. It is true that Crvena zvezda, a regular participant in the group stage of European competitions in recent years, has significantly higher revenues than its rival. However, this does not justify the fact that the Partizan stadium was without electricity all last summer. Or that the exit tunnel looks like ruins. Or that the woodwork in the press box is covered with duct tape.

Humska 1 priorities are known. When the ceremonial box at the stadium was demolished in September of last year, it did not take long to return to its previous state. Outraged fans destroyed the chairs and left messages on the walls of the box to the management of the "black and white", calling them to account again. However, the walls were soon painted over, the destroyed chairs promptly replaced, and those sitting in them continued to do what they do best - and that is to ignore them.

BEG AND THE LAWSUIT OF NEMANJA JOVIC

The financial condition of the "steamroller" is getting worse every year. Today, Partizan owes more than 35 million euros, according to a report published last year by the Agency for Economic Registers. In comparison, at the end of 2014 - Miloš Vazura's first year at the club - Partizan had a debt of around 15 million euros.

Although Milorad Vučelić is above Miloš Vazura in terms of function, the main target of angry fans is, after all, the sports director. In addition to the mentioned scandals, Vazura is also indirectly responsible for the events on the field. More precisely, for players who, unpaid, run away from Humska with their heads. The most recent case is the case of Xander Severina, who left the club in February due to an outstanding bonus and requested termination of the contract. The head of the coaching staff at the time, Igor Duljaj, personally traveled to the Netherlands to return the fugitive midfielder.

Severina returned, but many others did not. Among them, the most vivid are the cases of Takuma Asano and Nemanja Jović. In the summer of 2023, Jović was terminated from his contract with Partizan due to unpaid wages. The former student of Partizan's school, and later the first team member of the "Black and Whites", won a court case against the former club before the Court of Sports Arbitration in Lausanne in May. In fact, the verdict of the Football Association of Serbia was only confirmed there, so Partizan will have to pay the former player more than 250.000 euros due to unpaid wages, as well as a bonus for signing the contract.

photo: milica vucković / fonet

WELL-KNOWN TEMPLATE

Takuma Asano left Humska two years before Jović. A complaint from a Japanese person soon arrived at Partizan's address for unpaid wages. And this time, the Court of Sports Arbitration in Lausanne ruled, which confirmed the debt and ordered Partizan to pay the Japanese international and the costs of the proceedings. Previously, FIFA ruled that it was a sum of around 460.000 euros.

A well-informed interlocutor of "Vremena" explains that these cases are sufficient indicators that Miloš Vazura is not competent to lead Partizan.

"In any democratic state, it is unheard of for an official who loses the process against him twice in court due to neglect of the public good to remain in that position. I am talking about the Asano and Jović cases. It was established that Jović had not been paid health and social insurance for 42 months. It's about a guy who comes from Partizan's school and who three years ago was the star of a promotional video, a player who was seriously counted on and whose transfer was believed to bring a lot of money to the club", our source points out.

Due to debt, Partizan was punished with a conditional ban on the registration of new football players for the next three transfer periods. If he does not pay his debts, the vice-champion of Serbia will be able to count on reinforcements only from 2026. As reported by "Sportklub", it is assumed that it is about outstanding debts to the Japanese.

Jović and Asano are no exceptions. They are a confirmation of the template by which the leaders of Partizan operate. This was also confirmed by Igor Duljaj in October 2023 when, after the match with Spartak Subotica, he said from the coach's position that the players do not receive salaries, that he has to think about whether they have paid the rent and whether someone will come to evict them from the apartment .

PROFESSIONAL, DILIGENT AND PARTISAN PEOPLE

When everything is added up - disinterested management, bad results and millions of debts - what is left for the true fans of "black and white" as a solution to save the club? The famous football player Dzevad Prekazi believes that the arrival of the right people could be a cure. "The old saying is that the world rests on the young. Partizan should be taken over by people without any personal interest in it. And not those who come to Partizan thinking they are gods. No, they are coming to make the club better than the previous management did," he says.

The well-informed interlocutor of "Vremena" also gives the equation for the ideal leadership of Partizan. "For all the years that I have been following this club, Partizan has had something that looked like a management that is professional, hard-working and takes care of the club's interests for three years. This is the period when Gordan Petrić was the general secretary, Ivan Tomić was the sports director, and Slaviša Jokanović was the coach. It was a lineup of accomplished sports workers who are Partizan's people, with a lot of relevant international experience. These are three qualities that I strongly believe the ideal candidate must possess. I'm afraid that today these three qualities are in the background in relation to suitability and some kind of tacit consent that must be given from the top of the state", assesses our interlocutor.

He adds that the name of Stojan Dangubić, entrepreneur and president of the basketball club "Hercegovac" from Gajdobra, came to him as a potential candidate for the club's new general manager. First of all, our interlocutor points out, he is a great partisan and a man who is not compromised.

Dangubić confirmed for "Vreme" that he received an offer to join the club's Board of Directors, but also that he refused it. As he said, although he loves Partizan, he would not want to "be part of this story".

And that story, by all accounts, would have to be put to an end.

Controversial CEO

During these 10 years, Vazura (pictured) was involved in numerous controversies and scandals. Nedić's close ties with the leaders of the fan groups spilled over to the general director of Partizan. As one of the leaders of the club, Vazura allegedly maintained close relations with the "Janjičari" fan group led by Aleksandar Stanković and later taken over by Veljko Belivuk. Vazura's name was mentioned in the well-known case that was conducted against Belivuk - the one for the murder of Vlastimir Milošević. Namely, Belivuk claimed at the hearing that he was asleep at the time of the murder, but that he met Vazur at the Partizan stadium that day around noon. The general manager of Partizan was never questioned about these claims.

In May 2017, Vazura was arrested after the police stopped him in Voždovac and found a gun in his car. Since this was his first offense, he used the opportunity, that is, he paid 400.000 dinars for humanitarian purposes so that the prosecution would stop the proceedings. Four years later, an investigation was launched against him on suspicion of abuse of office. More precisely, the prosecution suspected him of fraud during the conclusion of the contract between the football and cycling clubs Partizan, claiming that these contracts were fictitious. However, the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade suspended the proceedings against Vazura and three other people after they paid almost 2,5 million dinars for humanitarian purposes.

Unlimited corrupt potential

For years, privatization of clubs has been cited as a solution to the sick state of Serbian football. The president of the Movement of Free Citizens and declared supporter of the "black and white" Pavle Grbović tells "Vreme" that this solution is still far away. First of all, as he believes, due to the lack of political will.

"The problem is that the administrations of the clubs in our country, and above all the administrations of Partizan and Crvena Zvezda, depend directly on the state leadership. The whole system is organized in such a way that one's success will depend on one's liking or disdain for one of those clubs", says Grbović and adds that both Partizan and Crvena Zvezda are "ideal training grounds for settling party cadres".

"Those clubs are very tempting for the party leadership because of the relationship with the managers and the large percentage they can get when transferring players. The corruptive potential of participation in the football clubs Partizan and Crvena zvezda is almost unlimited", adds our interlocutor and explains that this is precisely the reason why the ruling structure keeps both clubs in their hands.

"I think that the SNS will never give up the opportunity to broker through the clubs, and as long as this happens, we will have a change in the first place in the table in the domestic league, depending on whether the leadership that favors one or the other is at the head of the country. another club, but without any chance for any of them to make a breakthrough on the international stage", concludes Grbović.

Vučelić vs. Mijailović

Apart from the conflict with the fans, Milorad Vučelić (pictured) is not on friendly terms with the first man of the Partizan Basketball Club, Osto Mijailović.

In March of last year, Mijailović was voted the new president of the Yugoslav Sports Association Partizan (JSD), succeeding Milorad Vučelić in that position. However, the president of the football club was not overly disposed to leave the position to a younger colleague who is also close to SNS.

This is how the war between the two officials broke out, which has not subsided to this day. Last year, the JSD board of directors introduced forced administration into the football club - in other words, replaced the tandem of Vučelić and Vazura - and dissolved the assembly of the football section. However, FK Partizan then announced that it was withdrawing from the Yugoslav Sports Association. By the decision of the assembly of the football club, Milorad Vučelić remained the president, Ivan Ćurković the honorary president, and Miloš Vazura the general director, thus ignoring the decision of the JSD.

Closing the circle

The statute of the club practically makes it impossible to change through institutional means. Article 39 of the Statute stipulates that the new convocation of the assembly is elected by the Board of Directors ascertaining the electoral list of candidates sent to it by the Club Election Commission and sending it to the current convocation of the assembly for decision. Article 40 states that the assembly decides on the composition of the next convocation of the assembly by public vote.

Article 48 of the Statute then prescribes that the new convocation of the assembly, when the time comes, elects the president, members of the Board of Directors, members of the Supervisory Board, the general director and the honorary president of the club.

In translation, according to the Club Statute, there is a closed system of selection and decision-making. The board of directors determines the list of candidates for the assembly, and the same assembly, after it has been voted, decides on who will be the club officials. Thus the circle closes.