Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentin Dotsev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Septemvri the goodbyes have quietly begun.
This is not rotation. Bozhidar Penchev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Septemvri is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentine Ozornwafor 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Septemvri know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Septemvri will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“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.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Bozhidar Penchev’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Septemvri
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sebas Wade scored, was marked 7.70, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Kubrat Onasci 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
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.
Septemvri asked and Botev Plovdiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Sebas Wade’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Septemvri.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
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.” Yordan Mihaylov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $147.9K of what Septemvri paid for Yulian Gilov is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
This is not rotation. Yoan Baurenski has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Septemvri is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Septemvri close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 4 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.
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.
The deal that would have taken Vladimir Ivanov to Dobrudzha has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Septemvri with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Joan Sánchez has, at Septemvri, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentine Ozornwafor 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.