Marked for David Ciurel
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Oct 2028
18 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match18 Oct 2028
Universitatea Cluj ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match23 Oct 2028
27 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
No sign of nerves from David Dumitra at 21 — 7.96
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Dumitra did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets23 Oct 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Robert Geantă was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Frederik Vestergaard has just signed for ASA Târgu Mureș, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom23 Oct 2028
The numbers do not look good at ASA Târgu Mureș
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The terraces23 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. David Dumitra has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Sep 2028
26 days out for Ianis Keseru after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASA Târgu Mureș will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom25 Sep 2028
The numbers do not look good at ASA Târgu Mureș
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mihai Neicuţescu has just signed for ASA Târgu Mureș, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Robert Geantă was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vlad Bogdan commits to ASA Târgu Mureș for another 3 years.
Match23 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Boubacar Diallo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Tudor Oltean knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASA Târgu Mureș, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match23 Aug 2028
A 2‑1 win over CSC Dumbrăvița, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match26 Aug 2028
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market28 Aug 2028
“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 ASA Târgu Mureș, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Carlos Amaral pops up at the right end — 7.48
7.48, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Petrolul Ploiești keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match26 Aug 2028
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now ASA Târgu Mureș have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Robert Geantă 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.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Rapid Bucharest wanted more than $260.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
The numbers do not look good at ASA Târgu Mureș
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jul 2028
David Ciurel hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ASA Târgu Mureș can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
No thanks: Ahmed Said rejects the move
ASA Târgu Mureș had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Unirea Slobozia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Jul 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 ASA Târgu Mureș this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Oțelul Galați have kept their man, and ASA Târgu Mureș go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Tudor Oltean 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Enache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
CFR Cluj 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.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Florin Bejan has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Florin Bejan has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jun 2028
Marian Manea hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ASA Târgu Mureș can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The deal with FCSB is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Robert Geantă was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Botosani have kept their man, and ASA Târgu Mureș go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for George Mitrita, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zsombor Demeter, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to CFR Cluj: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Robert Geantă knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASA Târgu Mureș, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at ASA Târgu Mureș training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lilian Anselin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 May 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. ASA Târgu Mureș will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad29 May 2028
Robert Geantă was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market29 May 2028
A season away well spent by Vlad Bogdan
37 games, 3 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at ASA Târgu Mureș now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad29 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Fărăgău was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Charles Tambe, and the manager let it.
Market29 May 2028
The shop window has Marian Manea in it
ASA Târgu Mureș have let the market know Marian Manea can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market29 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ASA Târgu Mureș know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad29 May 2028
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Ciprian Biceanu keeps the shirt for now, at ASA Târgu Mureș's convenience rather than his own.
The dugout29 May 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sebastian Moroz has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ASA Târgu Mureș they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
A defender's goal wins it for ASA Târgu Mureș — 7.54
1 for Ciprian Biceanu, marked 7.54, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match15 Apr 2028
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon ASA Târgu Mureș had all but put away. FC Bihor Oradea will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Squad17 Apr 2028
David Ciurel in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASA Târgu Mureș this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Fărăgău was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Apr 2028
It needed Ciprian Biceanu to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against FC Bihor Oradea, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Gabriël Çulhaci's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Andrei Cicaldau after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Feb 2028
Guilherme Soares damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market21 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ASA Târgu Mureș they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Marked 8.17 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match19 Feb 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Robert Geantă and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
David Ciurel gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. David Ciurel has just signed for ASA Târgu Mureș, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Door shut on Rubio
ASA Târgu Mureș asked and Petrolul Ploiești 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 terraces21 Feb 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Andreas Birbic has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.