Marked for Patrick Vuc
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Yohan Roche 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ionuţ Rădescu 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
156% of the income goes out in wages at CSC Șelimbăr
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Cosmin Cicaldau after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad30 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and Richard Odada sits out. CSC Șelimbăr lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Patrick Vuc has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at CSC Șelimbăr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ionuţ Ailenei signs something — a contract at CSC Șelimbăr or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Yohan Roche 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mykola Kovtaliuk. 2‑1 against CSC Dumbrăvița, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 167% of the CSC Șelimbăr 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ionuţ Ailenei
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Cosmin Cicaldau, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. David Barbu has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Yohan Roche and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.45. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Patrick Vuc has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at CSC Șelimbăr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Match26 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for CSC Șelimbăr?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Politehnica Iași? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at CSC Șelimbăr would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 31 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at CSC Șelimbăr are won quietly and lost loudly.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ionuţ Ailenei 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.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrick Vuc 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamil Wiktorski, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.95 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, CSC Șelimbăr had the best player on the pitch.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Cosmin Cicaldau was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the CSC Șelimbăr dressing room was either.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and CSC Șelimbăr will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 CSC Șelimbăr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. CSC Șelimbăr have done the hard part with Dinamo Minsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Yohan Roche and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jelgava have kept their man, and CSC Șelimbăr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Andrei Rus
7.80, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. CSC Șelimbăr had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Universitatea Craiova: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
$970.0K — a new record at CSC Șelimbăr
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Raul Băilă decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match19 Aug 2026
Câmpulung Muscel are out and CSC Șelimbăr go through, 2‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match22 Aug 2026
Concordia Chiajna will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. CSC Șelimbăr were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Mykola Kovtaliuk takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mykola Kovtaliuk provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Luca Banu beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Richard Odada pops up at the right end — 7.39
7.39, 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Yohan Roche 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 CSC Șelimbăr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Mykola Kovtaliuk from Botosani for $970.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.