Marked for Stefan Man
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Stefan Man runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Crvena Zvezda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mihai Bancu. The answer from Astra has not changed — yet.
Market31 Aug 2026
Astra get their man
The chase for Ştefan Pănoiu ended with $560.0K changing hands and Botosani out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Adrian Iancu 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
$560.0K for Ştefan Pănoiu, and Astra supporters approve
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ştefan Pănoiu from Botosani for $560.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Match29 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Astra against Voluntari
0‑2 to Voluntari, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Remus Guţea, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Stefan Man
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
Paul Nita puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Astra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Aug 2026
Universitatea Craiova left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ovidiu Marin 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Paul Nita 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.73 on the card, and the Astra support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 54. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Dragos Tanase yet — 8.41
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.41 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Adrian Iancu 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Stefan Man’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Astra.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to George Keseru, and the manager let it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Astra training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ovidiu 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Stefan Man at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Astra.
Market17 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Astra will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Stefan Man runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” George Keseru commits to Astra for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Adrian Iancu 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 bad afternoon for Astra against CFR Cluj
0‑2 to CFR Cluj, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mihai Bancu 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 Keseru 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 58. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Astra heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Adrian 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 Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alexandru Tanase 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Stefan Man was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ovidiu Marin 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Viitorul leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad3 Aug 2026
George Keseru knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and George Keseru trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.