Montenegrin head coach Dejan Radonjic has decided to leave Crvena Zvezda after an incredible four seasons with the club. Zvezda wanted Radonjic to stay as he brought the club back to the top in the Adriatic League and Serbian League and even brought them to the Euroleague playoffs with an incredibly small budget.
Radonjic won three Serbian League titles as well as three Adriatic League titles with Zvezda in his four years with the club. The initial domestic titles Radonjic led the club to in 2015 were the clubs first in nearly two decades.
While the reasons behind Radonjic’s departure haven’t been confirmed, a good guess would be that the clubs financial issues had something to do with it.
Radonjic apparently received one payment all season, while the players went unpaid for six months according to David Pick.
Sources tell me Crvena Zvezda head coach Dejan Radonjic received ONE installment all season. Players unpaid almost SIX months.
— David Pick (@IAmDPick) May 30, 2017
Zvezda also started to ask fans to donate to the club to help with the financial situation.
Radonjic isn’t the only key figure to have left the club this off-season as multiple players from last season have departed as well.
Mark Guduric, Charles Jenkins and Luka Mitrovic all left for other Euroleague clubs. While Marko Simonovic and Stefan Jovic left for Eurocup clubs.
It will be interesting to see where Radonjic ends up next, and what strings Zvezda pulls with their budget to be able to fill out their roster and please their ever entertaining fan base.
