Marked for Daniel Moldovan
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Oct 2032
Tiago Duarte has a hand in both — 7.95
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.95, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Zsombor Demeter 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.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Alin Lazăr 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
“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.
Match23 Oct 2032
It needed Tiago Duarte to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against CSM Reșița, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Looking ahead25 Oct 2032
Botosani take on the side everybody is chasing
Politehnica Iași arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Squad25 Oct 2032
One booking too many, and Zsombor Demeter sits out. Botosani lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Squad25 Oct 2032
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2032
There were 6 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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2032
Dorin Stanciu, 21, steals the show — 7.79
Marked 7.79 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market4 Oct 2032
“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 Botosani, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Words exchanged at Botosani
Zsombor Demeter 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.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Words at Botosani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alin Lazăr 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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
Wages swallow 136% of the Botosani income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match2 Oct 2032
A 1‑0 win over Oțelul Galați, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout4 Oct 2032
The manager makes an example of Toma Bituleanu
“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 ratings4 Oct 2032
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2032
The phone has started ringing about Victor Laurent again, and this time the name on the line is Sepsi OSK. Botosani are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
The offer went to CFR Cluj this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Alin Lazăr 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 Botosani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
$10.0K on the table at Rapid Bucharest. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Sofia have kept their man, and Botosani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Words at Botosani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toma Bituleanu 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.
Market14 Jun 2032
Razvan Ratiu is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Botosani has been clear about where Razvan Ratiu stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market14 Jun 2032
“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.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vagab Budaikhanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
Botosani interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Match7 Jun 2032
Every point is an argument now for Botosani
Position 21 and 32 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market7 Jun 2032
“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.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
Daniel Moldovan: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botosani have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
Everything agreed with Universitatea Cluj, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jun 2032
A falling-out at Botosani
Alin Lazăr and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FCSB have kept their man, and Botosani go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Words at Botosani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toma Bituleanu 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
Wages eat 209% of everything Botosani earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.