Marked for Martin Kostadinov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Feb 2031
Martin Kostadinov damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words exchanged at Beroe
Juan Carlos Pineda 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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Beroe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chico Teixeira 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 dugout17 Feb 2031
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
Nene has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Beroe 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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Valeri Bozhikov, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Beroe would like this to lead.
Market17 Feb 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Juan Carlos Pineda’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
Ivaylo Videv 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 Beroe, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market17 Feb 2031
The shop window has Daniel Gomes in it
Beroe have let the market know Daniel Gomes can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
In brief
-
Boardroom
The Beroe production line keeps running
-
The dugout
Arthur keeps his manager's vote
-
Match
A season winding down at Beroe
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Feb 2031
No end in sight to Beroe's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Beroe has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Martin Kostadinov damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
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.
Match10 Feb 2031
Beroe finish in position 11
34 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad10 Feb 2031
A falling-out at Beroe
Juan Carlos Pineda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Feb 2031
The window shuts on the Pedro Naressi deal
Beroe ran out of time with Ludogorets. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Words at Beroe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivaylo Videv 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.
Match8 Feb 2031
Beroe caught on 93 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Levski scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Beroe deserved better, and so did he.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jun 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Beroe people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad17 Jun 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beroe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Beroe asked and Botev Plovdiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Chico Teixeira 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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivaylo Videv and Beroe agree another 3 years.
Squad17 Jun 2030
The medical room confirms 54 days on the sidelines for Martin Kostadinov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
The manager makes an example of Nasko Milev
“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.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
Nene gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nene is on it.
Market17 Jun 2030
Arthur linked with a move away
The name of Arthur keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Beroe say nothing, which says plenty.