Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kristiyan Stoyanov scored, was marked 7.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Faiz Mattoir was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Septemvri have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The chase for Gabriel Carvalho ended with $310.0K changing hands and Dobrudzha out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Dominik Ivkič 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kristiyan Yovov is living that version at Septemvri, and it tends to show in the first month.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Septemvri have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Slavia Sofia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 The request is on a desk at Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
André Liberal 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.
Ludogorets will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. André Silva has pre-agreed a move to Septemvri, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Christián Herc and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Kubrat Onasci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Septemvri, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kubrat Onasci and Septemvri agree another 5 years.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentine Ozornwafor 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with CSKA Sofia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Dominik Ivkič 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.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: André Liberal. 3‑1 against Arda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hristo Aleksandrov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Chavdar Malinov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Marked 8.67 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentine Ozornwafor 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.