Mitrovic on a Serbian podcast that aired yesterday (filmed on 10.6.)

[SerbianLad]

I know he isn't a very popular figure right now (understandably) but maybe someone would be interested. It was a pretty long podcast (2 hours) so I took notes everytime he spoke about something Fulham related.




This was filmed on 10.6. so of course things could have changed since then, but I still find it very surprising he would leave for Saudi Arabia(I guess money can change people). At the start of the interview, the interviewer kept asking him questions regarding his potential departure to big clubs, and he said something like everyone who plays football would of course like to at least try and play at clubs like Real Madrid or Barcelona someday, but that he doesn't need to. If an offer like that came in he would consider it, if not it seemed like he's happy to stay where he's at. General vibe was that he would only leave for the clubs at the top of world football and only if the offer is good for him (playing time included)


PL is always difficult because when you play against teams that sit back it' s hard to break them down and when you play against the top teams they have top defenders so it's equally hard then. He named Silva,Van Dijk and Tarkowski as his toughest opponents.


When asked about who his favourite Fulham teammate is, he straight away said Andreas. He then praised him for his technical brilliance and general footballing ability. He then said of course, Willian and Cairney too and Tim Ream. Ream is a "freak of nature". Incredible levels of fitness and professionalism. He said he's by far the fittest person in the squad despite his age. Mentioned the Ream/Pep Guardiola story too.




He said some referees often tell him stuff like "Youre stronger than him" when someone wrestles him to the ground or kicks him and he asks why that wasn't a foul. He feels like sometimes him and other big stikers get foul calls for basically touching the opposing player while when it is the other way around the defender can get away with murder. The consistency is what annoys him the most, he would be fine with both harsher and less harsh refereeing criteria if it was consistently applied.


Man U incident, wasn't asked about it, he mentioned it himself, he said he had no problem with the penalty but that that shouldn't have been a red as it wasn't a deliberate handball. That in addition to Silva getting a red caused him to lose his head a bit,although he insists he only wanted to talk to him at first but the referee kept running away from him when he tried to talk to him.

He talked and appologized to kavanagh the day after. He said he has a very good relationship with all referees and has respect for all of them because it's a hard job.


Kamara penalty incident, he admits that he isn't the best penalty taker, but he is and was the designated penalty taker so he practices them on the trainig ground after training by shooting 4-5 penalties, Kamara didn't shoot a single penalty in training. Because it was an important moment in the season and he was the designated penalty taker,he wanted to take the responsibility and that's why he argued with Kamara. But he didn't want to continue arguing with him so he wished him luck, kissed him and let him take it.

He goes on to say Kamara was an excellent footballer with amazing physical ability, but a very difficult person who often got into trouble at the club. Two of them got into fights multiple times too. Jokanovic apparently often put them in the opposing teams in 5 a side/6 a side matches on purpose and let both of them put in some dangerous tackles and stuff.




Prior to joining Fulham on loan, he agreed a transfer to Bordeaux and even talked to their coach before Jokanovic called him (Mitro told him that he unfortunately already agreed to join Bordeaux), next morning his brother told him that Anderlecht also wanted him. Because of his young child, he decided to accept that offer instead, because he knew the city. Anderlecht didnt sell Teodorczyk so didn't have enough money in the end. They asked Mitro to try and persuade Newcastle to let Anderlecht pay in installments but they rejected it straight away. Newcastle called him after a few hours and told him he is going to Middlesbrough. He was scrolling through whatsapp and seen Jokanovic's name so wanted to say hi, Jokanovic answered a second latter and told him he heard the news and that fulham still needed a striker. Fulham managment were very quick to react and managed to get the hold off the anderlecht doctor who had to go from his house to the Anderlecht training ground in the middle of the night and do Mitro's medical.

He instantly "clicked" with Fulham, strong bond with the owner which he describes as a father-son relationship(presumably he means Shahid then).




His favourite Fulham game is the second leg of the semifinal against Derby County, Wembley was great too but the Derby County match was really really special. The other final, last minute goals against Huddersfield and Brentford are also some of his favourite moments, he then went back to the Derby County game and said it was a match he still gets flasbacks to.



He is proud of his 43 goal record he broke,but he doesn't care for records and statistics, he didn't even know the Brentford away was his 200th game before he got that signed shirt.

A Fulham fan inspired his celebration, he saw him doing it so he did it too and his son started doing it all the time so he started doing it all the time too.




He's been chauffeuring Sasa Lukic around London because Sasa doesnt have a car yet. He's trying to help him settle in. Sasa was a bit surprised with the intensity of the league. He knew it was tougher than Serie A but didnt know that it was this much tougher.




He said Marco Silva is a scary good coach (wasnt sure if this idiom exist in English but its very common in Serbian language). He often talks to silva about different things, not only strictly pitch related but coaching stuff too. He says Silva is an amazing man manager. Everyone is on the same page and everyone is happy in the squad, even the players that aren't playing at all. He continued saying similar things but in a slightly different way. Seems like he respects him a lot. He also said that a good coach is the key to success and more important than having good players. Described last two seasons as phenomenal.





The injury has been bugging him ever since the Sweden game, and he played through painkillers and injections pretty much ever since, both for Fulham and for Serbia. He then mentioned that he does that often. he wouldnt be able to sleep after the game if he didnt do that (if his team lost a big game and he might have been okay to go with some sacrifices he'd always do it.


That's pretty much it. Rest was his early days at Partizan and our NT mostly.

[Marcel_Gecov]

Wow that is a very indepth summary. Somehting feels weird with the Mitro story. Seems almost like the guy in this interview and the one who has apparently said he will never play for us again are two diff people.

[SerbianLad]

Oh yeah, I forgot this. He said that at first, he thought he'd stay for 6 months only and then move to some other club, he never expected everything to be so perfect here. After those six months he really wanted to stay and so did the ownership.

Wow that is a very indepth summary. Somehting feels weird with the Mitro story. Seems almost like the guy in this interview and the one who has apparently said he will never play for us again are two diff people.

And this interview wasn't given so long ago. I guess if you get offered 5 or 6x your wages you can probably change you're opinion. But I'm still surprised.

[Blawarmy]

So the media talk re Mitro is all bs?

[Jim©]

Thanks Serbian, appreciate the time you've put into that

I feel that much of this has been blown out pf all proportion by the media. I'm also surprised by how many FFC fans seem to have turned on him.

[Bal_13]

Thanks for posting this - a good read.

I personally think it's perfectly possible for Mitro to have a genuine affection for the club (as shown through a lot of these sound bites) but still have his head turned by life-changing money, causing him to go through all the tricks about trying to secure the move.

At the end of the day FFC are a club he expected to be at for 6 months and then realised what a great place to play at we are. He's not a FFC fan from birth like we are, so his relationship with the club will always be different - but doesn't make his affection for the club null and void.

(For me playing as part of a 6 billion pound exercise in sportswashing is much worse than him refusing to play... but that's a separate argument, off-topic and much bigger than Mitro and FFC)

[SerbianLad]

So the media talk re Mitro is all bs?

We can't know for certain, as this podcast was done almost two months ago so some things might have changed, but I doubt everything that was reported was true either.

[H4usuallysitting]

Yep....and then £300k/week tax free came around the corner.... he's still a Fulham player - let's hope he stays.....if not we get £60m for him

[SerbianLad]

Thanks for posting this - a good read.

I personally think it's perfectly possible for Mitro to have a genuine affection for the club (as shown through a lot of these sound bites) but still have his head turned by life-changing money, causing him to go through all the tricks about trying to secure the move.

At the end of the day FFC are a club he expected to be at for 6 months and then realised what a great place to play at we are. He's not a FFC fan from birth like we are, so his relationship with the club will always be different - but doesn't make his affection for the club null and void.

(For me playing as part of a 6 billion pound exercise in sportswashing is much worse than him refusing to play... but that's a separate argument, off-topic and much bigger than Mitro and FFC)

I agree 100%

[Bobsffc]

Thanks for that...it's really interesting, and so surprising that it's all turned sour so quickly.

Part of the problem with the breakdown of relations with Mitro is that we only really know a small amount of what's going on, and what we do hear comes through agents or clubs with their own stories to spin. Journalists pretend to know what's going on, but in reality they make a lot of it up too, or at least they make calls on limited information. They see their job as getting readers, not necessarily telling the truth.

Mitro is being painted as the villain, and it certainly doesn't all look great from the outside. But we don't really know what he was told by TK or Marco when he signed the new contract. Maybe there was an understanding that if a significant offer come in for him, the club wouldn't stand in his way...or maybe that was what Mitro understood the position to be. Who knows?  I think it's just too simple to put all the blame on the player in situations like these o without knowing the full story.

[blingo]

Excellent  Mr Serbian. Thank you

[Cambridge Away]

"A Fulham fan inspired his celebration, he saw him doing it so he did it too and his son started doing it all the time so he started doing it all the time too. "

Mitro inspired by A Fulham fan inspired by Diomansy Kamara in our famous win at Man City in the great escape?

 

[McBrideOfFrankenstein]

Fantastic summary, thanks SerbianLad

[filham]

Interesting stuff but all overridden when a 2 year contract for £40m is put in front of him.
Just think what a huge figure that is, it really is mind changing.

[copthornemike]

Thanks for the interesting podcast details SL.
Someone else commented that the current Mitro, and the one speaking in the Serbian podcast, almost appear to be two different people & I would agree with that.
Did he mention anything about his agent? I suspect he is very active currently trying to get a big, fat agent's fee!!!

[Lighthouse]

Thanks for this. Personally it just highlights how little we can trust what people say. I am sure he was being honest. But once a bunch of multi millionaires backed by multi millionaire murderers come calling. Well game over. Sad that the morals of our game are being so easily bought out.

The people who run our game and the players who have already left after pretending to support human rights all can do a good interview. Not many appear to have principles.

[southwest6]

Cheers SL, much appreciated.

I think i'm in the minority who still love Mitro and hope he stays. Trying not to be sanctimonious here, but I choose to judge Mitro on the +5 years he is had at Fulham - and f*** me - how many good moments has he given me?! How much respect has he given to Fulham through his dedication and output?

Naturally, all the recent stuff hurts a bit. We know some of it is true, but the extent of it is likely exaggerated by the media, which we all seemingly choose to take as gospel once it suits our own beliefs...

But a lot of my anger towards Mitro is a result of my own expectations towards him as a human being. But what the f*** would I do if I was offered LIFE CHANGING money? I would like to think, should I be in Mitro's shoes, that I would stay at Fulham. But i'm a Fulham fan, born and bred in Fulham, so naturally my affection towards the club is deeper than his, I think... Sadly I cannot know or control what Mitro's ambitions are. 

At the end of the day, Mitro has given me some of my greatest Fulham memories as a 26 year old Fulham fan. I will always be grateful for that 

[Stevieboy]

I despair that even when positive things directly from Mito's mouth are quoted there are still those that take the negative view and continue to swipe at him.
It will be interesting to see if any of the sensationalist click bait 'journos' pick up.on this and what spin they put on it,O can pretty much guarantee it won't be positive!!

[General]

I know he isn't a very popular figure right now (understandably) but maybe someone would be interested. It was a pretty long podcast (2 hours) so I took notes everytime he spoke about something Fulham related.




This was filmed on 10.6. so of course things could have changed since then, but I still find it very surprising he would leave for Saudi Arabia(I guess money can change people). At the start of the interview, the interviewer kept asking him questions regarding his potential departure to big clubs, and he said something like everyone who plays football would of course like to at least try and play at clubs like Real Madrid or Barcelona someday, but that he doesn't need to. If an offer like that came in he would consider it, if not it seemed like he's happy to stay where he's at. General vibe was that he would only leave for the clubs at the top of world football and only if the offer is good for him (playing time included)


PL is always difficult because when you play against teams that sit back it' s hard to break them down and when you play against the top teams they have top defenders so it's equally hard then. He named Silva,Van Dijk and Tarkowski as his toughest opponents.


When asked about who his favourite Fulham teammate is, he straight away said Andreas. He then praised him for his technical brilliance and general footballing ability. He then said of course, Willian and Cairney too and Tim Ream. Ream is a "freak of nature". Incredible levels of fitness and professionalism. He said he's by far the fittest person in the squad despite his age. Mentioned the Ream/Pep Guardiola story too.




He said some referees often tell him stuff like "Youre stronger than him" when someone wrestles him to the ground or kicks him and he asks why that wasn't a foul. He feels like sometimes him and other big stikers get foul calls for basically touching the opposing player while when it is the other way around the defender can get away with murder. The consistency is what annoys him the most, he would be fine with both harsher and less harsh refereeing criteria if it was consistently applied.


Man U incident, wasn't asked about it, he mentioned it himself, he said he had no problem with the penalty but that that shouldn't have been a red as it wasn't a deliberate handball. That in addition to Silva getting a red caused him to lose his head a bit,although he insists he only wanted to talk to him at first but the referee kept running away from him when he tried to talk to him.

He talked and appologized to kavanagh the day after. He said he has a very good relationship with all referees and has respect for all of them because it's a hard job.


Kamara penalty incident, he admits that he isn't the best penalty taker, but he is and was the designated penalty taker so he practices them on the trainig ground after training by shooting 4-5 penalties, Kamara didn't shoot a single penalty in training. Because it was an important moment in the season and he was the designated penalty taker,he wanted to take the responsibility and that's why he argued with Kamara. But he didn't want to continue arguing with him so he wished him luck, kissed him and let him take it.

He goes on to say Kamara was an excellent footballer with amazing physical ability, but a very difficult person who often got into trouble at the club. Two of them got into fights multiple times too. Jokanovic apparently often put them in the opposing teams in 5 a side/6 a side matches on purpose and let both of them put in some dangerous tackles and stuff.




Prior to joining Fulham on loan, he agreed a transfer to Bordeaux and even talked to their coach before Jokanovic called him (Mitro told him that he unfortunately already agreed to join Bordeaux), next morning his brother told him that Anderlecht also wanted him. Because of his young child, he decided to accept that offer instead, because he knew the city. Anderlecht didnt sell Teodorczyk so didn't have enough money in the end. They asked Mitro to try and persuade Newcastle to let Anderlecht pay in installments but they rejected it straight away. Newcastle called him after a few hours and told him he is going to Middlesbrough. He was scrolling through whatsapp and seen Jokanovic's name so wanted to say hi, Jokanovic answered a second latter and told him he heard the news and that fulham still needed a striker. Fulham managment were very quick to react and managed to get the hold off the anderlecht doctor who had to go from his house to the Anderlecht training ground in the middle of the night and do Mitro's medical.

He instantly "clicked" with Fulham, strong bond with the owner which he describes as a father-son relationship(presumably he means Shahid then).




His favourite Fulham game is the second leg of the semifinal against Derby County, Wembley was great too but the Derby County match was really really special. The other final, last minute goals against Huddersfield and Brentford are also some of his favourite moments, he then went back to the Derby County game and said it was a match he still gets flasbacks to.



He is proud of his 43 goal record he broke,but he doesn't care for records and statistics, he didn't even know the Brentford away was his 200th game before he got that signed shirt.

A Fulham fan inspired his celebration, he saw him doing it so he did it too and his son started doing it all the time so he started doing it all the time too.




He's been chauffeuring Sasa Lukic around London because Sasa doesnt have a car yet. He's trying to help him settle in. Sasa was a bit surprised with the intensity of the league. He knew it was tougher than Serie A but didnt know that it was this much tougher.




He said Marco Silva is a scary good coach (wasnt sure if this idiom exist in English but its very common in Serbian language). He often talks to silva about different things, not only strictly pitch related but coaching stuff too. He says Silva is an amazing man manager. Everyone is on the same page and everyone is happy in the squad, even the players that aren't playing at all. He continued saying similar things but in a slightly different way. Seems like he respects him a lot. He also said that a good coach is the key to success and more important than having good players. Described last two seasons as phenomenal.





The injury has been bugging him ever since the Sweden game, and he played through painkillers and injections pretty much ever since, both for Fulham and for Serbia. He then mentioned that he does that often. he wouldnt be able to sleep after the game if he didnt do that (if his team lost a big game and he might have been okay to go with some sacrifices he'd always do it.


That's pretty much it. Rest was his early days at Partizan and our NT mostly.

Now that all seems like the mitro we're used to and who I thought he was when I kept pushing back re the Saudi move. I appreciate he did like posts of him in the al ahli top so not full disclosure, but definitely comes across as a genuine explainer and seems happy at the club.

The right bit of exposure given what's gone on and the right wording.

Let's get him fit and have him have a stellar full season next season with us!

[Lighthouse]

I despair that even when positive things directly from Mito's mouth are quoted there are still those that take the negative view and continue to swipe at him.
It will be interesting to see if any of the sensationalist click bait 'journos' pick up.on this and what spin they put on it,O can pretty much guarantee it won't be positive!!

I don't understand what you mean by this. The positive things Mitro has said in the past, remember this interview was in the past. Have all be fawned over by us fans and we all said what a great bloke he was. Now it was reported he wanted to leave and go for the money. Not a bigger club. What 'positives' are there? How can this be spun into anything other than 'Rich Player wants to make lots of money in despotic Country'.