Marked for Krasimir Grudev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
1‑4 to Cherno More, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market16 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Montana can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Montana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Montana
Chidera Micheal 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Montana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Yordanov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrey Yordanov
“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.
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
Doors closed at Montana
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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win for Montana
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Montana are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Boycho Velichkov has just signed for Montana, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Montana
Andrey Yordanov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Montana
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Montana can tell you which week it ends in.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Dobrudzha, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Krasimir Grudev and Montana agree another 3 years.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Vajebah Sakor pops up at the right end — 7.57
7.57, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
No thanks: Carlos Meotti rejects the move
Montana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Botev Plovdiv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Montana
Boris Dimitrov 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dragomir Milanov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Krasimir Grudev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Simeon Popov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Dimitrov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.