Marked for Wiktor Niewiarowski
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Murray Campbell: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botosani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Botosani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mykola Kovtaliuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Botosani
Alexandru Roşca and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Both jobs done by Rijad Sadiku — 7.48
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.48, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad31 Jan 2028
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The team sheet said everything about Mihai Bordeianu
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Mihai Bordeianu.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Aldo Martano gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Pablo Ortiz is in the works
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Market
Ylane Cherif is free to find somewhere else
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Jan 2028
Every point is an argument now for Botosani
Position 15 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match15 Jan 2028
The drought breaks for Botosani
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Petrolul Ploiești were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Botosani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mykola Kovtaliuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Botosani asked and Slavia Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botosani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market17 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Botosani have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match15 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aldo Martano. 1‑0 against Petrolul Ploiești, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Sheffield Wednesday have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dawid Tkacz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market14 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gornik Leczna have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gornik Leczna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Gornik Leczna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patryk Janasik is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Gornik Leczna asked and Widzew Łódź said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kewin Komar, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages swallow 114% of the Gornik Leczna income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Borja López asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.