Great coaches also started in the minor leagues: The unusual path of Srđan Radonjić

Novigrad is a small town in Istria, with only five thousand inhabitants. Peaceful and attractive tourist place, with a football club, sports pet and attraction.

This is where Srđan Radonjić began his independent coaching journey, after he received his UEFA pro license, and for many years he worked as a coach of junior teams and a member of Budućnost's coaching staff.

He was invited to Istria by his longtime teammate Branimir Ivanišević, who is actively involved in the process of developing the Nogigrad Football Club into a respectable club on the strong Croatian club scene.

Radonjić, the former goal scorer of Budućnost and Partizan, a young representative of FR Yugoslavia, and then a senior player of Montenegro, started a more difficult path - from the third league, but, as he says, the right one.

"I saw an opportunity and a challenge to come to Croatia, which is ahead of all the countries of ex-Yugoslavia in terms of football. Even great coaches started in the minor leagues and worked their way up. I studied for seven years, I learned a lot of things, but I need to gain experience. It is a process, this is by no means a step back, but a step forward. I think that in just two months I have done a good job both on a personal and club level," says Radonjić.

Starting from the third league, even when it comes to a club from a country that is incomparably more developed and stronger in terms of football and sports than Montenegro - that is not a common step, but Radonjić points out that it was a chance to assert himself as a young coach.

"We are a small country, it is difficult to enter the market, I think Montenegrin coaches will not accept challenges and changes. It's not easy, but if you don't try, you'll never know if you can succeed. As a player, I also followed a more difficult path. 20 years ago, I went from Budućnost to Mornar, then the third league, then I came to Partizan, abroad, the national team... I like challenges".

In Croatia, it is well known that great attention is paid to young players, and it is really unnecessary to list the names that gained a European reputation from Croatian fields, played in the biggest clubs and won the biggest trophies - everyone who follows football knows this well.

Radonjić points out that football players in all ranks are followed, which is how the goalkeeper of his club became a youth representative of Croatia.

“And that shows how much care is taken with all the players. I have a free hand here, I have a team that is a combination of young and more experienced, the support of Ivanišević and his partners, which means a lot," Radonjić points out.

First-hand, for now only following in detail the strongest ranking of Croatian football, Radonjić can see what kind of level we are talking about...

"The river is the closest to me and I follow perhaps the most. You can clearly see the difference in quality compared to Montenegrin football, the game is played faster, there is a lot of running, there are many young players in all ranks... The competition is strong at all levels, the work is serious, the demands are serious, and a huge opportunity for younger players to impose themselves and break through".

This is also one of the goals of Novigrad.

"The people who took care of the club are very influential in the football market. These are the people who brought a specific offer from Budućnosti for Lazar Mijović, who negotiated with Hajduk regarding the transfer of the super talented 18-year-old Stipo Biuk, and they have an interest in younger players getting a chance, progressing and becoming interesting to bigger clubs. The competitive aspect is also important, the goal is to fight and try to win entry into the second league, where from next season there will be fierce competition, because Croatian club football is changing according to the English model", Radonjić concludes.