Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSM Slatina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Slatina can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Universitatea Cluj 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.
Viorel Lică 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Korona have kept their man, and CSM Slatina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Everybody at CSM Slatina saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and César Sousa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSM Slatina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Slatina can pretend not to have heard.
CSM Slatina had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Bucharest, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mihai Răcăşan is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Mario Bărăitaru 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vllaznia Shkodër have kept their man, and CSM Slatina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Mihai Răcăşan 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have shaken hands with Dinamo Bucharest; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSM Slatina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
CSM Slatina asked and Barau said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mihai Răcăşan 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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. CSM Slatina have done the hard part with Botosani, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Darius Fălcuşan is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Slatina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSC Dumbrăvița have kept their man, and CSM Slatina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlad Prejmerean was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at CSM Slatina saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Slatina can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mario Bărăitaru is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Mario Bărăitaru 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Marius Lupu 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.
CSC Dumbrăvița 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.
CSM Slatina have made the call to Universitatea Craiova. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Mario Bărăitaru 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at CSM Slatina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Lupu 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vlad Prejmerean trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 CSM Slatina will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Andrei Traşcu are not good
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSM Slatina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Slatina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Alexandru Pop 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Vlad Bogdan 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Alexandru Pop in the middle of it, and Metalul Buzău unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Nicusor Coman could afford to be generous.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSM Slatina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 CSM Slatina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mario Bărăitaru 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 Alexandru Pop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Marius Lupu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSM Slatina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Slatina can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSM Slatina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Vlad Andreş 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 Vlad Prejmerean was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Nicusor Coman to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
SquadCSM Slatina are still strangers to each other
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSM Slatina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Mario Bărăitaru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Alexandru Pop 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.
100 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Nobody at CSM Slatina is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Chindia Târgoviște? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alexandru Şuteu’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and CSM Slatina needing him to play as if none of it matters.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSM Slatina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Sepsi OSK left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at CSM Slatina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Pop 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Viorel Lică.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Viorel Lică
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Slatina can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Yanis Pîrvu, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Mario Bărăitaru 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.
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.
A 1‑0 win over Steaua Bucharest, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at CSM Slatina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlad Prejmerean 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CSM Slatina are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.” Nicusor Coman kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dominik Şoptirean is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vlad Prejmerean and CSM Slatina agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSM Slatina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Slatina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Mihai Răcăşan 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.
Corvinul Hunedoara next, and one man in the CSM Slatina dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
They sit in position 5 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSM Slatina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSM Slatina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
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.
Something was said to Alexandru Pop and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Marked 7.17 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, CSM Slatina had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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.” Nicusor Coman chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSM Slatina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihai Răcăşan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 35, 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.
A 1‑1 draw with Gloria Bistrița leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nicusor Coman was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the CSM Slatina dressing room was either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mario Bărăitaru trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 CSM Slatina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mario Bărăitaru 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 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 CSM Slatina know it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Mihai Răcăşan 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Marius Lupu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against ASA Târgu Mureș; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yanis Pîrvu did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Slatina can pretend not to have heard.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Slatina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at CSM Slatina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Pop 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Nicusor Coman could afford to be generous.
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A CSM Slatina teenager takes the young player award
Yanis Pîrvu is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yanis Pîrvu did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Mario Bărăitaru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Alexandru Pop 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSM Slatina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mario Bărăitaru 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Iago has just signed for CSM Slatina, and for once the answer mattered.
6 matches without a win, and then this, against CSC Dumbrăvița. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Alexandru Pop 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 1‑0 win over CSC Dumbrăvița, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
He is 19, and nobody at CSM Slatina signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
“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 CSM Slatina, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” CSM Slatina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
CSM Slatina close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 0 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Slatina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
CSM Slatina ran out of time with FCSB. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at CSM Slatina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Pop 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.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSM Slatina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at CSM Slatina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihai Răcăşan 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.
Szilárd Magyari 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
85% of the income goes out in wages at CSM Slatina
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.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSM Slatina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Mario Bărăitaru 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. Kenzo Kies has, at CSM Slatina, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
CSM Slatina asked and Câmpulung Muscel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Dinamo Bucharest 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.
CSM Slatina have made the call to Corvinul Hunedoara. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 CSM Slatina, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
The deal with Voluntari 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Slatina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSM Slatina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nicusor Coman after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cătălin Preduţ was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mario Bărăitaru trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSM Slatina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Vlad Prejmerean scored, was marked 7.70, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Voluntari were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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.
The dugout7 Dec 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.” Nicusor Coman, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
4 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.
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: 16. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CSM Slatina told David Barbu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and CSM Slatina 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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Corvinul Hunedoara in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
At 19 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSM Slatina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Gloria Bistrița next, and one man in the CSM Slatina dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and César Sousa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CSM Slatina. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
At 19 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.
CSM Slatina asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at CSM Slatina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Szilárd Magyari 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 Tunari next, and one man in the CSM Slatina dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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 CSM Slatina, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Mario Bărăitaru reports back to CSM Slatina with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
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.
CSM Slatina asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at CSM Slatina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Szilárd Magyari 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation CSM Slatina are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
CSM Slatina have made the call to Corvinul Hunedoara. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSM Slatina can pretend not to have heard.
Politehnica Iași paid $190.0K and CSM Slatina took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
CSM Slatina asked and ASA Târgu Mureș 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 2‑0 win over CSC Dumbrăvița, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
7 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
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.” Nicusor Coman kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.