At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislav Georgiev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botev Plovdiv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom20 Jul 2037
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Botev Plovdiv
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Angel Zafirov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Angel Galchev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stanislav Iliev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botev Plovdiv have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botev Plovdiv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Botev Plovdiv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Chidera Micheal 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.
Squad18 May 2037
The manager has not finished forgetting Simeon Petrov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Botev Plovdiv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Algarra 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.69 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Martin Paskalev had Botev Plovdiv level again within 2 minutes, and Slavia Sofia never got to play with a lead at all.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Samuil Tsonov decided otherwise. Botev Vratsa had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Two goals and a mark of 9.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.23 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botev Plovdiv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The mood at Botev Plovdiv has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Tailson will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Botev Plovdiv escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.66 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Beroe for Octavian Vâlceanu was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Kaloyan Kostov 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.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Algarra 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martin Paskalev provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.77 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Botev Plovdiv and Spartak 1918, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Beroe have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Octavian Vâlceanu. The answer from Botev Plovdiv has not changed — yet.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Nana Antwi 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Chidera Micheal will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Botev Plovdiv escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Botev Plovdiv is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Dec 2036
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enock Kwateng 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Botev Plovdiv pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The mood at Botev Plovdiv has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.78 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Chidera Micheal 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.
Squad22 Dec 2036
Enock Kwateng 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1‑4 to Ludogorets, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botev Plovdiv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enock Kwateng 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.52 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enock Kwateng 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Radoslav Karamanov. 2‑1 against CSKA Sofia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Botev Plovdiv could ask drops and the wages Manuele Castorani can ask rise.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.66 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Botev Plovdiv hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botev Plovdiv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enock Kwateng 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.
Zdravko Milanov 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botev Plovdiv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Chidera Micheal 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.
Squad15 Sep 2036
Enock Kwateng 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.78 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boyan Tsvetanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botev Plovdiv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad8 Sep 2036
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enock Kwateng 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Botev Plovdiv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jul 2036
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enock Kwateng 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Marked 8.30 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Botev Plovdiv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Botev Plovdiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
Chidera Micheal 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.
Squad9 Jun 2036
Simeon Petrov 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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botev Plovdiv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Simeon Petrov 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.
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.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 14 and 25 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botev Plovdiv can pretend not to have heard.
Samuel Kalu 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.
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑3 to CSKA 1948, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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 Botev Plovdiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from CSKA 1948 for Zdravko Milanov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boyan Georgiev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botev Plovdiv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simeon Petrov 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Enock Kwateng has his answer from Botev Plovdiv; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
33 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.26 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botev Plovdiv have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Enock Kwateng.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botev Plovdiv have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.34 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Botev Plovdiv and Ludogorets in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
Boardroom102% of the income goes out in wages at Botev Plovdiv
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 Nov 2035
Samuel Kalu wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Samuel Kalu found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Beroe went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simeon Petrov 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.
Marked 9.30 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botev Plovdiv have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Simeon Petrov 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.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Kalu signs something — a contract at Botev Plovdiv or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Samuil Tsonov’s negotiating for him
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Chidera Micheal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simeon Petrov 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Botev Plovdiv, another week without a signature from Samuil Tsonov.
Squad1 Oct 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Daniel Naumov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A brace, and Samuil Tsonov takes the afternoon — 8.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samuil Tsonov provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 goals in one match, Samuil Tsonov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Botev Plovdiv and CSKA 1948.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Enock Kwateng 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chidera Micheal provided it, and the 9.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Botev Plovdiv and Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Simeon Petrov 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.
It needed Chidera Micheal to find the net to bring anything home at all: 4‑4 against Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boyan Georgiev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botev Plovdiv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Botev Plovdiv and Montana in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A 4‑2 win over Montana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Words at Botev Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simeon Petrov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.