Marked for Bogdan Coman
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Mar 2036
30 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match15 Mar 2036
No end in sight to Gloria Bistrița's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gloria Bistrița has to find a result from somewhere.
Market17 Mar 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Gloria Bistrița, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Mar 2036
David Ciurel 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 Mar 2036
Words at Gloria Bistrița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Iordan 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.
Match15 Mar 2036
0‑1 to Unirea Slobozia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
“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.
Boardroom17 Mar 2036
The borrowing at Gloria Bistrița reaches $18.0M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $18.0M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Jan 2036
1‑5 against Concordia Chiajna, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market7 Jan 2036
Mickaël Biron hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gloria Bistrița can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout7 Jan 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gloria Bistrița may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match5 Jan 2036
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gloria Bistrița are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Ricardo Căldăraru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 Jan 2036
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț have kept their man, and Gloria Bistrița go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Iordan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Nov 2035
Every point is an argument now for Gloria Bistrița
Position 20 and 13 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.
Squad26 Nov 2035
David Ciurel 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.
Boardroom26 Nov 2035
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words at Gloria Bistrița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teo Herceg 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.
Market26 Nov 2035
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Too much change too quickly at Gloria Bistrița
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
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 Alexandru Iordan is on it.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Nov 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gloria Bistrița is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Ricardo Căldăraru 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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Everybody at Gloria Bistrița saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Josh Flemmings 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 dugout19 Nov 2035
“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.
Looking ahead19 Nov 2035
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Corvinul Hunedoara in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market19 Nov 2035
The David Sas story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Sas signs something — a contract at Gloria Bistrița or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
The manager makes Marius Burca a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gloria Bistrița. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Nov 2035
David Ciurel 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 Gloria Bistrița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Nov 2035
Olimpia Satu Mare left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Munteanu, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Words at Gloria Bistrița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teo Herceg 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 dugout12 Nov 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Marius Burca: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Gloria Bistrița will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market12 Nov 2035
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Gloria Bistrița could get for him.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
The form table has caught Bogdan Coman
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Sep 2035
Giulio Carraro has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gloria Bistrița they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Sep 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gloria Bistrița can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Sep 2035
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gloria Bistrița are no longer polite ones.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Ricardo Căldăraru 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.
Boardroom24 Sep 2035
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Match22 Sep 2035
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Alexandru Iordan 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.
Match22 Sep 2035
CSC Dumbrăvița left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Teo Herceg is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Sep 2035
“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.
Squad17 Sep 2035
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad17 Sep 2035
The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for Denis Munteanu, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad17 Sep 2035
David Ciurel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Alexandru Iordan 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 Sep 2035
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
“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.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market17 Sep 2035
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexandru Silveanu has his answer from Gloria Bistrița; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
Gloria Bistrița close the window on a squad of their own making
19 in and 16 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2035
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Farul Constanța keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad3 Sep 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Sas commits to Gloria Bistrița for another 4 years.
Squad3 Sep 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gloria Bistrița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Words at Gloria Bistrița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Iordan 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout3 Sep 2035
“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.
The dugout3 Sep 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gloria Bistrița dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jun 2035
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gloria Bistrița lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom25 Jun 2035
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gloria Bistrița is running low.
Squad25 Jun 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gloria Bistrița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
Gloria Bistrița asked and Sivasspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Miloiu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jun 2035
Something was said to Alexandru Miloiu and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
A loan move for Andriy Burda is in the works
Gloria Bistrița have made the call to Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout25 Jun 2035
The manager makes an example of Vlad Lăcătuşu
“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.
Market25 Jun 2035
The David Sas talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gloria Bistrița know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout18 Jun 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gloria Bistrița may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
The deal with Petrolul Ploiești is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad18 Jun 2035
David Ciurel 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 Gloria Bistrița this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandru Miloiu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom18 Jun 2035
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom18 Jun 2035
Wages eat 123% of everything Gloria Bistrița 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.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
UTA Arad have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad18 Jun 2035
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.