Marked for Thomas Bonnet
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Apr 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against CSC Șelimbăr, and it could have been more.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Thomas Bonnet: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASA Târgu Mureș have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Robert Filip has a hand in both — 7.94
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.94, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Robert Geantă 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.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
The numbers do not look good at ASA Târgu Mureș
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match8 Apr 2028
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match8 Apr 2028
ASA Târgu Mureș settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. CSC Șelimbăr spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Andreas Birbic 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Feb 2028
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASA Târgu Mureș lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ASA Târgu Mureș they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Up for the corner, and Cristian Ignat delivers — 7.83
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Cristian Ignat scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Aidan Elliott-Wheeler scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at ASA Târgu Mureș 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
Tiszakécske come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and ASA Târgu Mureș did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 Jan 2028
Cosmin Bîrnoi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ASA Târgu Mureș can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Florin Bejan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and ASA Târgu Mureș go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. ASA Târgu Mureș have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Andreas Birbic 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Andrei Vînău beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom22 Nov 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at ASA Târgu Mureș now.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Bonnet, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
No place in the plan for Florin Bejan
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Match20 Nov 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. FC Bihor Oradea came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead22 Nov 2027
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț next, and one man in the ASA Târgu Mureș dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Robert Enache knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASA Târgu Mureș, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Thomas Bonnet: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASA Târgu Mureș have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ciprian Biceanu and ASA Târgu Mureș agree another 2 years.
Match2 Oct 2027
A 1‑0 win over CSM Slatina, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
100% of the income goes out in wages at ASA Târgu Mureș
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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.87 on the card, and the ASA Târgu Mureș support went home talking about one name.
The dugout4 Oct 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.” Andrei Cicaldau kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Chances created: 11. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Matteo Duţu moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at ASA Târgu Mureș than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and ASA Târgu Mureș did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ASA Târgu Mureș may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match24 Jul 2027
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Florin Bejan 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 targets26 Jul 2027
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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. ASA Târgu Mureș have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match24 Jul 2027
CS Tunari left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serges Ekollo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Jun 2027
“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.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. George Ganea was one of the reasons people came, and $1.0M does not replace that by itself.
Market28 Jun 2027
George Ganea has left for UTA Arad in a $1.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Fabien Quéré is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at ASA Târgu Mureș training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serges Ekollo 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Antonio Cruceru 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Fabien Quéré pulls a muscle — 15 days out
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.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and ASA Târgu Mureș did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market21 Jun 2027
The name of George Ganea has come up in conversations ASA Târgu Mureș were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Thomas Bonnet is a better footballer than he was
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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rapid Bucharest have kept their man, and ASA Târgu Mureș go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market21 Jun 2027
Business is business: Florin Iacob goes
Unirea Slobozia paid $22.0K and ASA Târgu Mureș took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Cosmin Bîrnoi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at ASA Târgu Mureș training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Cruceru 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Lokomotiv Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ciprian Biceanu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Match3 Apr 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Match3 Apr 2027
CS Dinamo Bucharest left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at ASA Târgu Mureș training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serges Ekollo 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Zsombor Demeter
“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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Monday Etim 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at ASA Târgu Mureș needed to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Steaua Bucharest, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Ovidiu Horşia: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASA Târgu Mureș have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The deal with CFR 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Florin Iacob reports back to ASA Târgu Mureș with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad8 Feb 2027
David Matei 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A move Thomas Bonnet would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Thomas Bonnet is living that version at ASA Târgu Mureș, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match6 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serges Ekollo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Oct 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Thomas Bonnet obliged against Rodez AF. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is OGC Nice.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Axel Witsel, 37, rolls back the years — 8.20
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Market2 Nov 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether OGC Nice can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Match31 Oct 2026
OGC Nice are at home on the road
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad2 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 OGC Nice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mohamed Amoura 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Axel Witsel. 1‑0 against RC Strasbourg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.