Marked for Marius Mitrita
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ovidiu Iancu 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
CFR Cluj left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dorin Coman 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.
Squad17 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 Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Paul Ratiu
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Viitorul
A 2‑5 beating by Astra was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad3 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 Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Viitorul and Astra, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Viitorul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ovidiu Iancu 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Vlad Mitrita
“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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Nicusor Stanciu at his very best
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Viitorul.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Viitorul dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Beaten 5 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Market3 Aug 2026
No place for Paul Iancu in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Paul Iancu has his answer from Viitorul; what he does with it is the next window’s story.