36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Septemvri lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 30 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad26 Feb 2029
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.
Henry Malkus 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ivaylo Bodurov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutFaiz Mattoir has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have shaken hands with Chernomorets Burgas; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
At 22 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Septemvri close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Viktor Dobrev reports back to Septemvri with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kirill Skvortsov has, at Septemvri, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Septemvri ran out of time with Etar. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Etar have accepted the money. What Septemvri do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Septemvri are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The name of Vladimir Ivanov has come up in conversations Septemvri were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Zahari Atanasov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Todor Minev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Septemvri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Septemvri are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
Septemvri asked and CSKA Sofia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
10 combined actions and 7.22. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The offer from Spartak Pleven for Valentin Dotsev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Septemvri they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Chernov 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Septemvri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
A brace, and André Liberal takes the afternoon — 9.08
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. André Liberal provided it, and the 9.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Spartak 1918 tried to reorganise, Septemvri did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Levski continues; the message travels home.
3‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ali Aruna provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Simón Bodnar did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Simón Bodnar 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.
Three points for Septemvri, 3‑1 the final word against Belasitsa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kubrat Onasci 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.
He is 23 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Valentin Dotsev reports back to Septemvri with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Simón Bodnar 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Septemvri, and 5 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Raffaele Huli is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
5 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.
In brief
The dugoutSimón Bodnar has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Septemvri people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Septemvri is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kubrat Onasci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Septemvri can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Septemvri is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Valentin Dotsev is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faiz Mattoir 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.
Bozhidar Penchev 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.
“I watch every Septemvri game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gloria Bistrița runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Kubrat Onasci's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Borislav Marinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Septemvri has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Septemvri know it.
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Faiz Mattoir 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.
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 Zamir Aliji has written the date down.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Nikolay Krastev’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Septemvri they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: CSKA Sofia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stoyan Stoichkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Septemvri asked and AS Saint-Etienne said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Septemvri will try again when the window opens; Pirin Blagoevgrad may not be selling by then.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kaloyan Pulev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Septemvri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 21 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Venislav Mihaylov and Septemvri agree another 4 years.
Borislav Marinov 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Valentin Dotsev 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.
A 2‑0 win over Yantra, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bozhidar Penchev 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.
A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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.” Ivaylo Bodurov, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kaloyan Pulev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Septemvri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Valentin Dotsev is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Septemvri are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bozhidar Penchev 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nikolay Krastev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Septemvri needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody at Septemvri 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.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $322.2K of what Septemvri paid for Gabriel Noga is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Septemvri until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Aleksandar Petrov reports back to Septemvri with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
At 21 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Septemvri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The phone has started ringing about Kaloyan Pulev again, and this time the name on the line is Minyor Pernik. Septemvri are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Liberal 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.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Septemvri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nikola Genchev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Valentin Dotsev is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Académico de Viseu 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minyor Pernik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Minyor Pernik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Minyor Pernik offered $3.3M; CSKA Sofia said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lokomotiv Sofia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Georgi Varbanov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petko Ganev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Hristo Popadiyn 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Suren Harutyunyan has, at Minyor Pernik, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simeon Veshev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He is 20, and nobody at Minyor Pernik signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minyor Pernik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 20 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simeon Veshev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Minyor Pernik will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minyor Pernik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minyor Pernik 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minyor Pernik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Everybody at Minyor Pernik saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Minyor Pernik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomislav Kostadinov 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.
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.
A 2‑0 win over CSKA Sofia II, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Ratón