“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 The request is on a desk at Pandurii, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dragos Balasa 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Coman and Pandurii agree another 1 years.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Mihai Man 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.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Bogdan Marin has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Pandurii are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
Dragos Balasa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihai Burca 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.
“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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Botosani in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Pandurii would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
In brief
The dugoutRemus Guţea knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Mihai Burca 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.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Pandurii had all but put away. Petrolul will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mihai Chiriches signs something — a contract at Pandurii or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Dragos Balasa 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.
Nobody at Pandurii 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cosmin Bancu signs something — a contract at Pandurii or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Daniel Bancu has written the date down.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Pandurii would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pandurii, and both men came out saying it was fine.
1‑4 against Dinamo Bucharest, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Cosmin Bancu 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
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihai Burca 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Mihai Nita left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Pandurii will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Beaten 4 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Pandurii close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 13 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Daniel Bancu 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Antonio Borduşanu’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pandurii needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The name of Bogdan Marin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Pandurii say nothing, which says plenty.
Market6 Sep 2027
The window shut and Mihai Man is still in the building
Pandurii spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pandurii can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $38.9K — a club that wants Antonio Dumitru enough to be asked twice.
The name of Cristian Nedelcearu has come up in conversations Pandurii were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Dragos Balasa 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.
Pandurii have gone to Botosani with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bogdan Marin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pandurii lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pandurii will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Astra for Dorin Deac 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.
Dragos Balasa 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.
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bogdan Marin 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.
$2.0M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pandurii lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pandurii will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A brace, and Dorin Deac takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dorin Deac provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pandurii have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pandurii can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
He is going to CFR Cluj, the club has $2.0M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pandurii lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pandurii will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Pandurii and Astra have settled on $710.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Cosmin Bancu 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Astra have kept their man, and Pandurii go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Dorin Deac 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pandurii, another week without a signature from Idrissa Dioh.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Daniel Bancu
The dugoutIdrissa Dioh knocks on the manager’s door
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Nüraly Älip 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 Apr 2027
Mihai Burca 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 Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dorin Deac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pandurii lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nüraly Älip 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 Feb 2027
Dorin Deac 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.
“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 Pandurii, and 8 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pandurii lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pandurii asked and Podbeskidzie said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Daniel Bancu 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 words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 9 and 13 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.
Cosmin Bancu 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dorin Deac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pandurii asked and Botosani said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mihai Man trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pandurii know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Cosmin Bancu 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dragos Cicaldau 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.
7.85, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Pandurii had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.” Mihai Nita kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Cosmin Bancu 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dorin Deac 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Bancu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Pandurii would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dorin Deac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 90, against Botosani, 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pandurii has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
The mood at Pandurii 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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Dragos Balasa 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mihai Nita was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Pandurii dressing room was either.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Dorin Deac 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pandurii can tell you which week it ends in.
8 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.
Cosmin Bancu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Dorin Deac 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ianis Keseru is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mihai Nita after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Cosmin Bancu 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.
Viitorul left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bogdan Marin 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.
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 Mihai Nita to a room that had heard them before.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Cosmin Bancu 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.
He is 23 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Pafos for Dragos Cicaldau 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.
Astra paid $1.6M and Pandurii took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Pandurii had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Astra, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Cosmin Bancu 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.
Pandurii asked and Dinamo Bucharest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Bancu 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Dragos Cicaldau at his very best
Two goals and a mark of 9.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
1 for Mihai Chiriches, marked 7.87, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.