Marked for Sander Lien
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Apr 2042
Stanislav Manolev damages knee ligaments — 107 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 107 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.
Squad21 Apr 2042
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Montana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Apr 2042
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Montana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Nov 2041
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Nov 2041
Sebastian Larsen 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.
Squad18 Nov 2041
Teodor Ivanov 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.
Boardroom18 Nov 2041
Montana counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Montana now.
Match16 Nov 2041
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Nov 2041
“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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Sander Lien runs at them all day
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Boardroom
The Montana production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Sep 2041
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad9 Sep 2041
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Montana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Sep 2041
“The easiest signature of my career.” Teodor Ivanov and Montana agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match7 Sep 2041
No end in sight to Montana's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Montana has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Sep 2041
Sebastian Larsen 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.
Match7 Sep 2041
A 1‑1 draw with Botev Plovdiv leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings9 Sep 2041
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Sep 2041
The name of Teodor Ivanov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Montana say nothing, which says plenty.
Market9 Sep 2041
No fee and no drama: Nicolas Sala has signed at Montana, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Aug 2041
Montana through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Slavia Sofia, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad19 Aug 2041
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings19 Aug 2041
A brace, and Nikita Vassiljev takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikita Vassiljev provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad19 Aug 2041
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Montana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Aug 2041
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yordan Stoyanov, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Aug 2041
Words at Montana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kauan Toledo 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.
Match17 Aug 2041
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Sebastian Larsen had Montana level again within 2 minutes, and Lokomotiv Sofia never got to play with a lead at all.
Player ratings19 Aug 2041
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Aug 2041
It needed Sebastian Larsen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Lokomotiv Sofia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jul 2041
446 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Montana know what they have.
Market8 Jul 2041
“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 Montana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Jul 2041
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Montana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jun 2041
Stijn Kwantes: 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.” Montana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Jun 2041
Magomed Omarov 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.
Squad17 Jun 2041
Kauan Toledo 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.