Marked for Andrei Dumitru
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Botosani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Andrei Dumiter out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Botosani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The deal with Astra 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Charles Petro 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Astra have kept their man, and Botosani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrei Miron
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Too much change too quickly at Botosani
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Zoran Mitrov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Botosani say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botosani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Loïc Badiashile
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Modou Jarju 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 Andrei Dumiter has written the date down.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody is after Zoran Mitrov’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Zoran Mitrov suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Botosani have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Charles Petro 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Enriko Papa
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Botosani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Modou Jarju was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Botosani
Charles Petro 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Viitorul, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrei Dumiter
“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.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Petrolul to sit and watch. I want to come back to Botosani and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adrian Mitrita after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Zoran Mitrov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zoran Mitrov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Botosani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrei Dumitru was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The formation has left Telmo Coimbra behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Botosani will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Andrei Miron breaks a bone — 56 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Botosani
10 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a goal for Botosani
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Charles Petro 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.
Match28 Sep 2026
Botosani at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 9, 6 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Botosani are still strangers to each other
6 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Enriko Papa
A mark of 7.20, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Zoran Mitrov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Alex Leyi
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Leyi, and the manager let it.
In brief
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The dugout
Zoran Mitrov knocks on the manager's door
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
Andrei Dumitru falls out with a teammate over standards