56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CS Afumați lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sebastian Cucu 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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ianis Stanciu 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CS Afumați told Ianis Stanciu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CS Afumați, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against CSM Reșița in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CS Afumați lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.76 for the rest of it.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Sebastian Cucu 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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. 11 actions, 7.16, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CS Afumați lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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.
8.04. 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 words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafael Carvalho provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Afumați have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andrei Nita 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. Daniel Moldovan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cosmin Mitrita 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.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CS Afumați lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3‑0, and Marius Nita took the headlines on an afternoon when everything CS Afumați tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
A brace, and Marius Nita takes the afternoon — 8.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marius Nita provided it, and the 8.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Sebastian Cucu 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
8.00. 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 dugout25 Feb 2036
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CS Afumați lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 CS Afumați, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Bucharest is saying, and nobody at CS Afumați is enjoying the guessing.
Mujaid Sadick 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.
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. 14 actions, 7.03, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Steaua Bucharest will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Dedryck Vertonghen has pre-agreed a move to CS Afumați, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Ianis Stanciu 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.
“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 CS Afumați, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
This is not rotation. Alexandru Enache has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at CS Afumați is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Mujaid Sadick 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.
Sebastian Cucu 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 Mujaid Sadick was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 CS Afumați will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
In brief
The dugoutMario Tout has become a man the manager trusts
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Felipe Vega has just signed for CS Afumați, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mujaid Sadick 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rafael Carvalho and CS Afumați agree another 3 years.
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
214% of the income goes out in wages at CS Afumați
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.
Matias Suazo 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 dugout3 Dec 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Atanas Chernev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mujaid Sadick was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sergiu Hagi 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Dorin Marin
Atanas Chernev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mujaid Sadick 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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
213% of the income goes out in wages at CS Afumați
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Olimpia Satu Mare had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
He is 20, and nobody at CS Afumați signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Afumați this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ianis Stanciu 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad24 Sep 2035
5 new faces, and CS Afumați are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
Victor Dican 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.
Botosani go through and CS Afumați go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Farul Constanța keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
FK Csíkszereda wanted more than $740.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CS Afumați they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mujaid Sadick 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.
“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 CS Afumați, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Universitatea Cluj, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to FK Csíkszereda this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Ionuţ Ailenei 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.
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mujaid Sadick was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 CS Afumați, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CS Afumați have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
$790.0K settles it between the clubs for Artem Litosh
FK Csíkszereda have accepted the money. What CS Afumați do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț is saying, and nobody at CS Afumați is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Afumați this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mujaid Sadick 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.
CS Afumați asked and Farul Constanța said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 CS Afumați, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CS Afumați have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Rapid Bucharest; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Afumați this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$24.0K on the table at Voluntari. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mujaid Sadick was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FK Csíkszereda have kept their man, and CS Afumați go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ionuţ Ailenei is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Afumați can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Afumați this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mujaid Sadick was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
“I watch every CS Afumați game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Concordia Chiajna runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
“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 CS Afumați, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Afumați this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mujaid Sadick 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 did not go to Concordia Chiajna to sit and watch. I want to come back to CS Afumați and fight for my place.” 14 appearances in 43 matches say the rest.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Afumați can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Mujaid Sadick 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.
200 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.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Mujaid Sadick 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.
Sergiu Hagi 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Câmpulung Muscel were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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 CS Afumați, and 10 appearances in 35 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ionuţ Ailenei is on it.
CS Afumați and Hermannstadt have settled on $200.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Mujaid Sadick 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.
CS Afumați asked and FCSB said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Toby Bower 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.
“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 CS Afumați, and 9 appearances in 31 say he has earned the hearing.
Oțelul Galați 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Raul Cîmpean
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Manuel Pinto is living that version at CS Afumați, and it tends to show in the first month.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Raul Cîmpean 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.
Max Woodford 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.
Manuel Pinto is 20, and CS Afumați have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the CS Afumați dressing room was either.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CS Afumați lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CS Afumați is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tudor Ivan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CS Afumați, another week without a signature from Ionuţ Ailenei.
“I did not go to Concordia Chiajna to sit and watch. I want to come back to CS Afumați and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rob Stoop will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CS Afumați the goodbyes have quietly begun.
This is not rotation. Raul Cîmpean has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at CS Afumați is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Sep 2034
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mujaid Sadick 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.
Alexandru Enache 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mario Tout and CS Afumați agree another 3 years.
The dugout18 Sep 2034
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutCătălin Pîntea is still being punished for one mistake
“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 CS Afumați, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CS Afumați they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with UTA Arad; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
CS Afumați close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 16 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Cătălin Pîntea has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
“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; CS Afumați are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A 4‑2 win over Olimpia Satu Mare, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexandru Balasa did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. CS Afumați have done the hard part with UTA Arad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Afumați this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
CS Afumați have gone to Rapid Bucharest with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
6 goals in one match, George Stanciu on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of CS Afumați and Olimpia Satu Mare.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Mujaid Sadick 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexandru Balasa 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.
In brief
Player ratingsAlpár Gergely beats them one at a time
Player ratingsYoel Guirrimán was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CS Afumați people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal with Universitatea Craiova 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.
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.
Squad7 Aug 2034
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mujaid Sadick 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.
12 combined actions and 6.75. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CS Afumați they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 CS Afumați, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Afumați have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. CS Afumați have done the hard part with UTA Arad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Reece Greenhalgh 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.
10 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
In brief
SquadMujaid Sadick falls out with a teammate over standards
CS Afumați and UTA Arad have settled on $110.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Everything agreed with CSM Slatina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Rob Stoop and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2034
Mujaid Sadick 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.
A loan enquiry to Farul Constanța: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CS Afumați have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitatea Craiova have kept their man, and CS Afumați go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Rob Stoop 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandru Enache signs something — a contract at CS Afumați or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee CS Afumați could ask drops and the wages Cătălin Pîntea can ask rise.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Afumați can pretend not to have heard.
CS Afumați and UTA Arad have settled on $110.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Alexandru Enache 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.
CS Afumați asked and Hermannstadt said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rob Stoop 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 CS Afumați can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CS Afumați, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of René Stein
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Afumați can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Alexandru Enache 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mujaid Sadick was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutAlpár Gergely knocks on the manager's door
Player ratingsAlpár Gergely beats them one at a time