Marked for Roman Samsonenko
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout25 Mar 2030
Roman Samsonenko: 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.” Etar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Etar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Mar 2030
Chernomorets Burgas left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Miguel Reis, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Etar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasil Kazaldzhiev 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.
Boardroom25 Mar 2030
120% of the income goes out in wages at Etar
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.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Chavdar Paskov to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings25 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
Bruno Pinto asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Feb 2030
Etar make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad25 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Etar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Etar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Ayari 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.
Boardroom25 Feb 2030
Wages eat 121% of everything Etar 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.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Bruno Pinto
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Chavdar Paskov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Etar dressing room was either.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
“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 dugout25 Feb 2030
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Match23 Feb 2030
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Sportist Svoge will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Nov 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Fratria, and it could have been more.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
A brace, and Mustafa Beyai takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mustafa Beyai provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Etar
Zhak Pehlivanov 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Etar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vasil Kazaldzhiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Nov 2029
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jiří Kulhánek, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Nov 2029
“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 Etar know it.
The dugout12 Nov 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.” Chavdar Paskov, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Market12 Nov 2029
Renato Valente is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Etar has been clear about where Renato Valente stands, which is more than many ever get.