Marked for Daniel Dragusin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botosani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Botosani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Dragusin 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Giannis Anestis has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Botosani 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Botosani?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against CFR Cluj? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match19 Aug 2026
Viitorul ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market24 Aug 2026
Ştefan Pănoiu 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 Botosani can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
Viitorul come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Botosani did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botosani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Fáider Burbano 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giannis Anestis, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.41 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
FCSB come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Botosani did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
The chase for Daniel Dragusin ended with $550.0K changing hands and Viitorul out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sebastian Mailat 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Voluntari, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrei Dumiter
“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
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Ionut Bancu has come up in conversations Viitorul were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ionut Bancu commits to Viitorul for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dragos Iancu in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Botosani paid $550.0K and Viitorul took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Marius Nita gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
George Stanciu 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bogdan Cicaldau has his answer from Viitorul; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match8 Aug 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Dinamo Bucharest defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ionut Bancu in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Viitorul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihai 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was George Stanciu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Viitorul.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Daniel Dragusin has come up in conversations Viitorul were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.14 — 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.