After the victory of his team against Rad and his jubilee 100th game on the bench of Vojvodina, the Manager of the red and whites, Nenad Lalatović, stated that the Old Lady will always be his second home.

Today, Vojvodina has beaten Rad 4-1 (1-1), in the 11th round of the Serbian Super League.

– Congratulations to both teams on the shown performance, and to my guys on, for me, a great victory. I am glad that I experienced leading my Vojvodina 100 times as a coach. In a club this big, it’s no small thing. I managed to have 59 victories in 100 games, but the credit for that belongs more to the players than to me. I mean on both the first generation that I led and the second, with the proviso that the second will somehow always remain in my heart because it won the trophy with Nenad Lalatović. Becoming the fourth coach in the history of Vojvodina to win a trophy is a great thing and I am very proud of that – says Lalatović.

He is satisfied with today’s performance of his team against Rad.

– We didn’t enter the game well and the only thing I can blame my players for is that we conceded a goal immediately in the third minute. However, after that we had all the strings in our hands and dominated all 90 minutes. We turned the result around to 4-1, and according to the chances, it could have been even more convincing. I love when my team plays like this, that is, when, regardless of whether they are the first to concede or score a goal, they grind all 90 minutes and do not stop. We played at a high pace, created chances, intercepted from the background and played quickly and easily, and when you play like that, then the results come. After Novi Pazar, I said that you can’t always win, but when we are at this level, then you can. I am proud that my Vojvodina is again second on the table today, because it absolutely deserves it in terms of quality – Lalatović points out.

The Manager of Vojvodina is also happy because other Novi Sad clubs have been recording good results lately.

– I am glad that we have more quality clubs in Novi Sad, and here I first think of Kabel, which is at the very top of the First League of Serbia and has players from our Youth Academy. Today, Novevski made his debut for us and had a 100% chance. He may play for Kabel tomorrow, so when he returns to Vojvodina, it will be immediately visible how much he has progressed. All praise for FK Kabel and the people who run it – Lalatović notes.

He does not forget FK Proleter, in which he once had the function of the Manager.

– I spent beautiful years in Proleter and that is the club that affirmed me as a coach. I heard that they won today and that they are fourth on the table, and I wish them to reach Europe with all my heart, if that can happen. That would be phenomenal, because Proleter is led by the people who first gave me a chance. They recognized me and I will always be grateful to them for that, so they were and will remain my friends. As much as someone wants it, no one can divide us. I see them as my family, and I am thinking primarily of Mr. Tića Antić, who I see as my own brother, and President Steva Buljić, who I see as my father. Congratulations to them and others from the management of FK Proleter. It is nice when something like this happens in Novi Sad, that Vojvodina and Kabel and Proleter play well. This shows that there are very high quality clubs in the north of Serbia, and I also mean on Spartak and TSC – says Lalatović.

The Manager of Vojvodina also praised the management of his club, although he emphasizes that there are certain debts to the players and members of the staff.

– I have to praise Mr. Bajatović, who is doing everything to settle his obligations to the players and the staff. He ensured that we get those two salaries that were late, but the players are still owed rates and bonuses for the Cup and placement to Europe. That should have been paid two months ago, and I would very much like it to be paid next week – Lalatović points out.

He believes that the management of Vojvodina must also be strengthened.

– We have an acting President. Mr. Samardžić is a phenomenal man, but I would like to have a president like Mr. Gajić. Our club misses him very much and I would like him to retrieve his resign or for Samardžić to be officially the president. That would make my job easier, because it is difficult to work without a president. Also, it would be much easier to have my sports director. The players would not come to me with their dissatisfaction, but would go to the director and the president. Vojvodina is such a big club that it must urgently resolve these issues – Lalatović notes.

The Manager of Vojvodina points out that he still has extremely good cooperation with the current members of the management.

– I would like to thank Mr. Bajatović and Mr. Ljubo Apro for everything they do for us, because these are two people with whom I have a phenomenal cooperation. That also applies to President Samardžić, but I have to single out these two because they are available to me and my boys 24 hours a day. They are very responsible for the fact that Vojvodina plays at this level today and that those two salaries were paid. Ahead of Pazar, the players were very nervous, and they still are, so they asked me to talk to the management next week about what is owed to them. They won the Cup, they are second on the table, they are great guys, they are breaking records in Vojvodina, they are writing history and that is why they should be paid. We should not be ashamed of what they are asking for – says Lalatović.

According to him, he will always see Vojvodina as his second home.

– I have been accepted here since the first day and that is why I have always wanted to justify the trust of our fans. I won the trophy and achieved so many victories in two terms. I showed how much I care about Vojvodina and that I see it as my second home, and that will always be the case. I hope that I will manage to achieve those three more victories and that, one day when I leave, I will be convincingly the best coach of Vojvodina according to the results. I think that the next coach will need 50-100 years to catch up with me. Writing the history of Vojvodina is a great thing for me and I am very proud of that – Lalatović points out.

However, it is very important to him that the club functions stably.

– There are certainly people in Novi Sad who would like not to see me on the bench of Vojvodina, but they do not like Vojvodina. Some may mind that I make results like this, but I am a man who does his job honestly. What I promise someone, I fulfill. Only the best play for me, that is, those who deserve it and who can make a result for Vojvodina. I’m not used to working in a system like this, because I spend myself a lot and give myself in every game and training. I talk a lot and meet with the people who run the club, but I would like to have a president and a sports director in their office every day, so that I have someone to turn to when I come to the training center – Lalatović notes.

He points out that he has good cooperation with the general director Dušan Bajatović, but that it is not enough.

– Mr. Bajatović does some other things and gives a lot to Vojvodina, but I can’t reach him every day, and Ljuba Apro works for him as a lawyer. Those offices on Veternik are empty. Along with Red Star and Partizan, Vojvodina is the biggest club in Serbia and it must be full of people. President, director, scouts, we should be a real machinery. Vojvodina is the machinery and it will be even bigger, and that is the only thing that I want. I’ve been saying this for a long time and I don’t know if anyone takes me seriously or not. They didn’t take me seriously last time either, so when I wanted to leave and said that I couldn’t stand it anymore, they didn’t allow me to do that and chaos ensued – said Lalatović.

Vojvodina will play the next match on Wednesday, when it will face Jedinstvo in Rumenka in the Round of 32 of the Serbian Cup. That match is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.