Marked for Esomchi Kula
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Marked 8.22 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Hevertton honoured for the season
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Marek had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Market3 Jan 2028
Esomchi Kula 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 Marek can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
Aurel Marku: 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.” Marek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Marek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dani Martín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“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 Marek know it.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
Marek asked and Lokomotiv 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.
The terraces3 Jan 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lyubomir Kostov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Esomchi Kula: 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.” Marek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market13 Sep 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Beroe moved on, Nikola Videnov reports back to Marek, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Match11 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Marek
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Marek
Kamen Hadzhiev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Marek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dani Martín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Sep 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Pedro Monteiro
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Marek, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Marek close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 11 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Marek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Marek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I watch every Marek game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hebar runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Atanas Kabov has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Marek know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market6 Sep 2027
Beroe are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Marek will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market6 Sep 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad6 Sep 2027
9 new faces, and Marek 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Marek
Kamen Hadzhiev 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
Dani Martín 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 dugout31 May 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.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Wages eat 93% of everything Marek earn
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.
Market31 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Borislav Vakadinov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.