"I have never seen a club run like this anywhere," said the recently departing coach of Hajduk Split, Gennaro Gattuso.
How is Hajduk run? The coach and sports director are in charge of the field, above them are the president of the board and a member of the board, and above them - the supervisory board, as its name suggests, responsible for "supervising" the work of the board. In Split, he apparently supervised too much, to the dismay of the legendary Milan football player.
And what would Gattuso, or anyone else, say about FK Budućnost - a club that has not had a board of directors for years, a club that has been led by a supervisory board for three full seasons? There is everything in football, but it is difficult to find anything similar to the stadium under Gorica.
The "visit" of the sports inspector who determined that under Gorica, at the club's leadership - everything has been illegitimate since 2022, took place when FK Budućnost is literally swimming in problems.
The conflict between the two currents resulted in the dismissal of executive director Novak Novaković, the club was "hanging" over the abyss of not receiving a UEFA license, and some of the activities related to the 100th anniversary celebration were either canceled or are under serious question marks.
The exhibition match - between Ex-Yu legends and Buducnost legends - will certainly not be played, and the problem this time is not directly related to the club. It is for its majority owner, the Municipality of Podgorica, because the replacement of the grass at the City Stadium is delayed due to the interruption of work - and it is certain that everything will not be able to be completed by June 11th.
Podgorica Mayor Saša Mujović has already announced that such a match "would not make sense" if played anywhere else, except at the stadium under Gorica.
And the promotion of the monograph, as could be heard, is under question for June 10th, because due to the total blockade, there is no one to approve the funds for its printing.
All other activities, and their implementation, will have to wait for the election of new, legitimate branches, and the Assembly session is scheduled for June 5. So, everything is "on the line".
And all this is happening at a time when Buducnost is doing well on the field, when the Podgorica team has a historic chance to make a valuable result in Europe, to even qualify for the group stage of the Conference League after being named the seed at the start of the Champions League qualifiers for the first time.
The chance is great, but football is ruthless, there are no results without harmony in the club, and under Gorica, it's not that there is no harmony, but rather - "discord" reigns.
What did the inspection determine, what could have been determined a long time ago?
According to the Law on Sports (Article 60), "the mandatory bodies of a sports organization are the president of the sports organization, the assembly of the sports organization and the board of directors of the sports organization."
Under Gorica, there was no board of directors - the supervisory board "ruled" and elected the president. For example, Boško Kovačević, who is also the club's president, was on the supervisory board. Judging by the way Budućnost was run, it turns out that he supervised himself, just like the previous president Balša Pejović.
At the club's Assembly scheduled for June 5, Buducnost is to elect a board of directors for the first time since 2022 - a formality, in compliance with the Law, but not all members of the supervisory board will be able to be "rewritten" into the board of directors.
Minister of Internal Affairs Danilo Šaranović, a former member of the supervisory board, will therefore not be able to be on the governing body. Otherwise, Article 62 of the Law on Sports would be violated, which states that "a member of the governing board of a sports organization cannot be a person who is: the president of the state, the president and member of the Government, the president and deputy of the Parliament of Montenegro, the mayor of a municipality, an administrator in a municipality..."
Other members of the club's current, illegitimate supervisory board, besides Kovačević and Šaranović, are Vesna Brajović, Stevan Popović and Feđa Smatlik.
It is expected that at the club's Assembly, Kovačević will again be elected president - this time president of the board of directors, which should have members who meet legal requirements.
What's next?
Buducnost will receive a license for Europe, a new (same) club president will be elected, executive director Novaković will be replaced again by legitimate decisions of the board of directors, probably without a day of service, Dejan Damjanović, activities on the occasion of the centenary, incomplete, will probably be "patched up", the Podgorica team will play in the first round of qualifying for the Champions League as the seed.
That's all for the short term, but what's next?
As long as a club, especially one that is a symbol of the capital, the largest in the country, is trained as a training ground for dividing political spoils, that club has no future. Even if it's called that...
It is true that it has always been like that under Gorica, since 1991, with rare exceptions, but never, at least it seems, like lately.
Bonus video:
