For the second time in just three years, Iskra will play - in Europe, which is a huge success for a club that entered the Montenegrin first league scene quite late, only in 2015, nine years after independence.
Not, however, and too late to leave a mark, but also to announce some new things, new people - players, coaches... That happened this season.
Milovoje Novović is 38 years old, he is the youngest coach in the first league and after only two and a half months of independent work on the bench, he celebrated his placement on the European stage with the citizens of Danilovgrad.
Novović was an assistant to Srđan Nikić until mid-March, after whose departure he took over the responsibility of head coach for the first time in his career...
Out of 26 goals in the second half of the season, we scored 25 from play, only one from stoppage time. It can also be interpreted as a deficit of offensive breaks, which we need to work on, but it can also be said that we reached 4th place through the game, says Novović.
"I started the season with Nikić - we created this team together, we had an excellent cooperation that later continued with Goran Jovanović. This is also the success of the entire professional staff, which also includes Miloš Lakić, Ksenija Popović, Gvozden Bulatović and Miloš Krstajić," Novović points out.
Directly from football boots, in January 2017, the former defender of Koma, Grblje, Lovcen, Dečić and Iskra sat on the coaching bench and has been in Iskra's coaching staff for five and a half years.
"Thank you to club president Blaž Šaranović for trusting me - both in 2017 when I practically moved from the field to the bench, and now when he gave me the chance to be the first coach. I think I took advantage of the trust shown. Thanks also to the directors, Blaž Perutović and Srđan Blažić".
How did Iskra play? Fourth place in the standings and placement in the semi-finals of the Cup is a remarkable result for a team that played in Europe two summers ago, but only managed to survive in the playoffs last season.
"Last season we had a crisis of play and results, but it was this crisis that helped us create a concept and with the skeleton of the team that remained the same, with the supplementary selection of six-seven new players, make it a success. It was not easy to win the fourth place, because Mornar, Petrovac, Rudar and Podgorica also competed for it before the start of the season. It's not easy to go to Europe twice in three years, because other clubs have similar ambitions and budgets, so they didn't succeed," says Novović and presents an interesting fact:
"Out of 26 goals in the second half of the season, we scored 25 from play, only one from stoppage time. It can also be interpreted as a deficit of the offensive break, which we need to work on, but it can also be said that we reached 4th place through the game. In any case, I much prefer that we had problems with interruptions, than with the game".
Novović is only at the beginning of his coaching career, and it is certain that he will lead the citizens of Danilovgrad through European trials, just like the domestic one in the next season.
"I improve a lot, I spend a lot of time analyzing the opponent's game, and of course also my team. It's nothing unusual, I believe that every coach does it, at any age, and not only at the beginning of their career," says Novović.
The life of a trainer is specific - "from Saturday to Saturday", the results dictate the mood, but also everything else...
"The biggest support and help is my family, to whom I will dedicate every success and the success of my team. They go with me through good and less good moments, which the job of a coach brings with it".
Bonus video:
