FK Partizan boss Igor Duljaj attended the latest edition of Partizan Podcast. By defeating bitter rivals Crvena Zvezda, Partizan climbed back to the top of the pile and Duljaj is quite emotional about it.
“What really made me happy, what made me shed a tear back home later on, was when I saw photos of young Stjepanovic or Nikolic hugging Belic, Natcho climbing onto the advertising board or Saldanha celebrating surrounded by fans. Such was the joy of players together with the coaching team and ballboys; it was all from the heart and the soul. That`s my biggest win”, said Duljaj.
But, 44-year-old gaffer is not going to take the credit himself.
“It wouldn`t be fair as there are many people around, people public don`t know much about. First of all, there`s players followed by coaching staff, even media outlets who criticized us when they should – it was all well-intentioned after all. We also had great support from the fans, especially away, while at home we had good numbers on east and west stand”.
Prior to the start of the championship, no one was expecting Partizan to be top of the pile by the festive season.
“We were written-off from the start and I said to the boys we should just keep quiet and do our work without promising anything. We need to understand the circumstances around the club and it was important to me to know what I`m going to leave here to the next coach in line, once I depart. Now we have young team helped by more experienced players and you don`t need to make big changes every year or lose continuity”.
It was a rather interesting and turbulent half-season, with lots of comebacks and late Partizan goals. Some of them had special feel to it, like Nikolic`s goal on the anniversary of death of legendary Partizan forward Dragan Mance or goal from Mihajlo Ilic resembling of trademark goals scored by recently deceased Partizan legend Mustafa Hasanagic.
“Someone up there sees it all and rewards honest work. When you are righteous, sooner or later it pays dividends. I always believed in honest work, since I was a kid. You keep quiet and you do your work and some things in life are not accidental, they happen for a reason”.
Enormous support from the fans kept Duljaj going.
“I get great energy from the people I meet on the streets, even Crvena Zvezda fans. They support me in what I do as everything I do is due to my love for the club. Partizan made me and I can never pay it back in full, for everything club has given me. For me, It`s all from the heart and I know sometimes I jump out of my coaching boots as a result. Actually, certain energy happened after the first round and 3-3 draw against TSC. I just couldn`t believe how many fans were there to see us away to Vojvodina next time around. It was game after game afterwards and you`ve seen how we won some games – by character and quality. I think we managed to bring certain number of people back onto the stands”.
Finally, Duljaj spoke about winter transfer window plans.
“There are players we are interested in. One I like in particular and I have a great desire to sign him. He`s 22 but his price tag is a bit high for us, we are talking about 1,5 million Euros. That`s a bit sum for Partizan but we`ll see what we can do. Anyhow, I`m sure Partizan will be even stronger after the winter break”.
