Many legends and great football names have been produced by Buducnost over the past 100 years, but there are few - perhaps more than one - who have experienced a club abroad naming part of a stadium after them.
Branko Brnović has that honor - his name is on one of the entrances to the Espanyol home, but the former tireless midfielder is no less proud of the fact that it all started from his Titograd, from the stadium under Gorica. Where the past still seems brighter than the present, and how the future now looks.
One of those from the incredibly talented generation that emerged during the 1980s, he has always been connected to Buducnost - first as a player, then as a coach, but also as a fan of the Podgorica club. He showed this in a series of interviews with "Vijesti" through which legends and fans choose the ideal team of the Montenegrin "centenarian".
- I'm attached to the first team at Dragutin Spasojevic "and it certainly left a mark on me that I was next to such players at that time. Simply, I only watched them at training and it was a pleasure to be there. There was also a dose of nervousness, the positive kind, but when you know that at 18 years old you are next to such players, there must have been excitement," Brnović recalled his first steps in the blue and white jersey.
Dream Zenica, "hundred" and a different Titograd
According to available data, Brnović played exactly 100 matches for Buducnost, but as he says, he never counted them. Other things were more important to him.
- Honestly, I don't know the exact number of games, but I played for four years and spent one in the army. Back then, it was an honor to sign and play for Buducnost compared to now - Brnović emphasized.
And the first match in blue and white came in the city that is today known as the home of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.
- There were many games, especially against the big four, but the one I remember the most fondly was my debut in Zenica against Čelik. Dejan Savicevic had a couple of yellow cards and couldn't play and Milan Zivadinovic sent me onto the field. I scored two goals and that opened the door for me to the first team and further my career - says the former midfielder of Buducnost, Partizan, Espanyol, Kom and the Yugoslav national team.
It is difficult to compare the period in Titograd when Brnović played and today.
- Even before I started playing, there were more spectators at training sessions than at matches now. It was enjoyable, at least I enjoyed the games of the masters of the time. It was an honor when you saw them around the city, and not just at matches. Our generation with all the great players had a similar atmosphere, I remember that before the match against Partizan, the stadium was full two hours before kick-off, you couldn't walk down the street. Football was played back then, for pleasure and love, and we died for the blue and white colors. I'm not saying that players don't do that today, but now they think more about other things than about Buducnost - Brnović is clear.
Savićević a genius, Mijatović an exceptional player, Vujović a delight
Budućnost had many great masters, but which ones left a special impression on Brnović with their play?
- We have to single out two players I played with - Dejan Savićević and Predrag Mijatovic"Savicevic showed what kind of player he was not only in Buducnost, but later in Red Star and Milan, and they didn't call him a Genius for nothing. Mijatovic had an exceptional career, he was an extraordinary player and he delighted the audience," Brnovic emphasized.
There is also one name that was already big when Brnović, Savićević and Mijatović were starting their careers at Buducnost.
- I have to mention too Dragan Guza Vujović, who returned to Buducnost the year I made my debut. It was a joy to watch how he played. There were many more of them, of course, but those three left an impression on me.
How Brnović looks at the clubs whose colors he played for today.
- I replaced the blue and white colors with black and white, and then I put on the blue and white again. Buducnost and Partizan are the clubs I have supported since childhood, and Espanyol gave me everything in my life. Even today, when I am in Barcelona, they welcome me with open arms and it is nice to see how people are still happy for you.
The name at the entrance to the “RCDE Stadium” (formerly Cornella el Prat) could be one of the things that Buducnost should learn from the Spanish club.
- It's a real privilege to have my name there, and I think that Buducnost could learn a lot from Espanyol about how to treat former players and legends. Whether it bothers anyone or not, but Zaro Buric He never got involved in politics, but instead gathered former players at least once a month and made them feel like they were still part of the club.
The current situation is detrimental to all of us who love the club.
More than thirty years have passed since Brnović wore the Buducnost jersey, and the situation in the largest Montenegrin club is far from ideal - in the year of its 100th birthday, it saw the autumn part of the season end in 7th place in the league with ten teams.
- We would need a lot of time on the topic of today's Buducnost - a whole day or a five-hour show. I believe that politics should be kept out of the club - it's okay for them to be there, to help, but they should let those who know how to work do it - said Brnović.
He also recalled the 100th birthday celebration, which perhaps best described the state of affairs in today's Buducnost.
- Branislav Milacic was 100 percent right, because you have to know who should sit where, how to be respected. Honestly, it doesn't bother me, but they can't just have their mouths full of Buducnost, they have a lot to learn. They have to make Buducnost that everyone can be proud of, and what's been happening lately is hurting all of us who love this club.
During the desperate half-season, only the coaches changed, and four of them are now former.
- I always said that I would Dejan Vukicevic should have gotten a chance, but he made a big mistake by giving up on more experienced players. He should have sat down with them, sorted it out and "used" them properly by the end of the season - Petar Grbić i Igor Ivanovic could solve most of the games themselves. I also think that they Ivan Delić They had to put up with him as a coach, because he is tied to Buducnost, he is a great guy, a great professional and will certainly have an exceptional career. And they "used" him up for two games.
The conversation with Brnović came at a time when Budućnost was trying to bring Miodrag Bozovic.
- They have to try to persuade Grof because he is the man who could get all of this back on track - Brnović has no dilemma.
Chile in 1987 and France in 1998.
The blue jersey of the Yugoslav national team is also an unavoidable topic, and Brnović's story in the national team started on a golden path when he became the world youth champion with the famous "Chileans". In the final against Germany, he was one of the sure shots from the penalty spot.
- That success practically changed the careers of an entire generation. We did something that no one expected, but when you look at what several players up front did after that - Mijatović, Zvonimir Boban, Davor Suker, Robert Prosinecki - it's clear that these were world-class players and what a generation they were. It's a result that is still remembered and talked about today, and that set our careers on an upward trajectory.
Three Buducnost players (Brnović, Mijatović and Dragoje Leković) and two from Sutsjeka, and 11 years later at the World Cup in France, as many as six former players of the Podgorica club - Brnović, Savićević, Mijatović, Leković, Zeljko Petrovic i Nisha Saveljic.
- The 1998 World Cup left me with a great pain, because I think that generation should have done much more in France. I think we needed a stricter coach to tighten us up more. When you see the names that played, it's really a pity that we didn't achieve a better result - concluded Brnović, who 13 years later led Montenegro as a coach.
Besides my brother, I had to work "120 percent"
During his first years at Buducnost, Branko Brnović played on the team alongside his brother Dragoljub.
- It was a pleasure. Two brothers in Buducnost at that time is not something that happens often. On the one hand, I knew that I was protected from him, that I could relax, and on the other hand, that I had to work "120 percent" and more than the others. When he moved to Partizan, I was a little relieved because I felt more freedom - Brnović recalled.
Two Brnović teams that would work wonders in Yugoslavia
Branko Brnović is also among the legends who decided to choose two ideal Buducnost teams.
"It's not easy to choose the best team of all time. For example, I have two strikers - Željko Janović, who delighted me, and Ante Drobnjak, who had a great career. That's why I chose the players I played with and those I followed before me, so it's not all the time because there were great players before them, but I don't remember them. Basically, these are the two teams that would work wonders in Yugoslavia," Brnović said with a smile.
First team: Dragoje Leković - Duško Vlaisavljević, Nisa Saveljić, Vojislav Vukčević (captain), Dragoljub Brnović - Zeljko Petrović, Dragan Vujović - Dejan Savićević, Ante Miročević, Predrag Mijatović - Anto Drobnjak.
Second team: Branislav Djukanovic - Slavko Vlahovic, Branislav Drobnjak, Miodrag Bozovic, Zoran Vorotovic - Momir Bakrac, Petar Ljumovic - Ivan Njaka Radovic, Zeljko Pipi Bozovic, Mirko Radinovic - Zeljko Janovic.
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