Marked for Wiktor Paluch
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market9 Oct 2028
Kiril Ivanov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Septemvri they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Borislav Marinov commits to Septemvri for another 5 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Kubrat Onasci and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Marko Cvijetić 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.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Ninety minutes of André Liberal at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Septemvri.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Septemvri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match7 Oct 2028
It needed André Liberal to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Levski, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Angel Atanasov has become a man the manager trusts
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The dugout
Ali Aruna asks for a word with the manager
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Oct 2028
A fracture rules Mikhail Petrolay out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Oct 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 Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Afonso Silva 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.
Market2 Oct 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Septemvri has been clear about where Borislav Stoichkov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Septemvri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Loan watch2 Oct 2028
“I did not go to Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț to sit and watch. I want to come back to Septemvri and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
Match30 Sep 2028
It needed Ali Aruna to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Cherno More, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market2 Oct 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Septemvri have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
Wiktor Paluch: 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.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Septemvri
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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afonso Silva 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 targets31 Jul 2028
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 dugout31 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Afonso Silva
“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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Septemvri are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dunav Ruse waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Septemvri is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at CSKA Sofia is saying, and nobody at Septemvri is enjoying the guessing.
Market10 Jul 2028
Lokomotiv Sofia pay $290.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afonso Silva 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 targets10 Jul 2028
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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Septemvri
Wiktor Paluch 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.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Afonso Silva 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 Septemvri, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Jul 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nicolas Fontaine’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jun 2028
Afonso Silva breaks a bone — 22 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Septemvri people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
$84.0K settles it between the clubs for Anatoli Gospodinov
Arda have accepted the money. What Septemvri do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebas Wade 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Septemvri have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Wiktor Paluch and Septemvri agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to Levski: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Kaloyan Pulev 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Loan watch24 Apr 2028
15 goals on loan for Ali Aruna
27 appearances at Belasitsa and the goals keep coming. Septemvri are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afonso Silva 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.
Loan watch24 Apr 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Septemvri, and 11 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Market24 Apr 2028
The Faiz Mattoir story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Faiz Mattoir signs something — a contract at Septemvri or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Sebas Wade 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 Septemvri, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Septemvri. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager comes out for Bruno Jordão
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Bruno Jordão has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Mikhail Petrolay is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Septemvri
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebas Wade was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch10 Apr 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Septemvri, and 13 appearances in 41 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Wiktor Paluch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Georgi Dimitrov, and the manager let it.
Market10 Apr 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kubrat Onasci’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market10 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“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.
The terraces10 Apr 2028
The stands have heard the Borislav Marinov talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Septemvri would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Septemvri may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Septemvri
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Afonso Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Apr 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Septemvri, another week without a signature from Afonso Silva.
Squad3 Apr 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 Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Corentin Solitaire, and the manager let it.
Market3 Apr 2028
The name of Nicolas Fontaine keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Septemvri say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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.
Loan watch3 Apr 2028
13 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 33, with 270 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Mikhail Petrolay out for 63 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afonso Silva 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 targets14 Feb 2028
Septemvri asked and Beroe 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 terraces14 Feb 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Loan watch14 Feb 2028
The goals keep arriving from Ali Aruna’s exile
13 goals in 25 games at Belasitsa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Septemvri updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Borislav Marinov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“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
Crisis
Match25 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout27 Dec 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebas Wade 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.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Faiz Mattoir beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Wiktor Paluch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market27 Dec 2027
The Faiz Mattoir talk will not go away
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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Angel Atanasov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Septemvri will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Septemvri may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Afonso Silva 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 dugout1 Nov 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Late, late show earns Septemvri a point
Minute 93, against CSKA Sofia, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Borislav Stoichkov and Septemvri agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Septemvri, and 4 appearances in 8 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Septemvri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match30 Oct 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 17 gone
That is the business done at Septemvri 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
At 21 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Septemvri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Septemvri
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Nikos Tsaras arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nikos Tsaras has, at Septemvri, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets6 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.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“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.
Market6 Sep 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Septemvri signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.