Marked for Dávid Sigér
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Botosani
Position 16 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Botosani
Hervin Ongenda 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 May 2027
Igor Dmitriev 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 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” David Martins and Botosani agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Jakub Głaz
“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 May 2027
Igor Dmitriev asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Loan watch17 May 2027
36 starts and an average of 6.85. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
Squad17 May 2027
A wage question at Botosani
Charles Petro has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The dugout17 May 2027
Alex Leyi has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alex Leyi has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 May 2027
Charles Petro has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Botosani they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at Botosani
Igor Dmitriev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Botosani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hervin Ongenda 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Botosani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout10 May 2027
David Ciurel 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 David Ciurel is on it.
The dugout10 May 2027
Dávid Sigér 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 Botosani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market10 May 2027
“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.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“Nobody here treats me like a loan player, and that is worth more than people think.” 35 appearances and 0 goals, and a summer that will decide it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Charles Petro
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Charles Petro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botosani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Botosani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hervin Ongenda 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 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Charles Petro, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Leverton Pierre, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Botosani are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market12 Apr 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
David Ciurel has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Botosani 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Igor Dmitriev: 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Botosani
Igor Dmitriev 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Botosani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hervin Ongenda 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
11 new faces, and Botosani are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Mar 2027
Botosani are in real trouble now
Position 16, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Botosani may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Hervin Ongenda 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Botosani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihai Bordeianu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Mar 2027
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at Botosani
Something was said to Pavlos Pantelidis and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Victor Lebas
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Dávid Sigér knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dávid Sigér trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Dec 2026
Botosani are in real trouble now
Position 16, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Iván López, 19, steals the show — 7.64
Marked 7.64 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Hervin Ongenda 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.
Match22 Dec 2026
CFR Cluj left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tauzy signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tauzy commits to Botosani for another 3 years.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Dávid Sigér
“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.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Charles Petro 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 Botosani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
The step up is real for Iván López
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Iván López 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lucas De Vega commits to Botosani for another 4 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Botosani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hervin Ongenda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Botosani take on the side everybody is chasing
FCSB 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Andrei Miron’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Botosani needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sebastian Mailat’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
The drought breaks for Botosani
17 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Unirea Slobozia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Sebastian Mailat takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sebastian Mailat provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market7 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Botosani
Hervin Ongenda 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Denis Mironov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dávid Sigér commits to Botosani for another 1 years.
Market7 Dec 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
In brief
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Squad
Dávid Sigér falls out with a teammate over standards
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Squad
Dávid Sigér slips down the pecking order
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Botosani's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Botosani has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Botosani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hervin Ongenda 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jakub Głaz 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Too much change too quickly at Botosani
9 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Razvan Nita after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Market23 Nov 2026
The name of Hervin Ongenda keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Botosani say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Botosani
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match2 Nov 2026
Botosani are in real trouble now
Position 16, 3 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. 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
Words exchanged at Botosani
Iván López 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Botosani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hervin Ongenda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match31 Oct 2026
1‑3 to Rapid Bucharest, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Dávid Sigér
“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.
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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Dinamo Bucharest to sit and watch. I want to come back to Botosani and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Botosani's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Botosani has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Enriko Papa yet — 8.09
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A move Romario Matova would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Romario Matova is living that version at Botosani, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Botosani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hervin Ongenda 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Dávid Sigér 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Giannis Anestis
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Botosani had all but put away. Hermannstadt will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Botosani are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
In brief
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Player ratings
Sebastian Mailat beats them one at a time
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The dugout
Andrei Miron knocks on the manager’s door
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑3 to Oțelul Galați, 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Botosani
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Botosani have done the hard part with Shinnik, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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 targets31 Aug 2026
Botosani asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Botosani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dávid Sigér was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Razvan Nita after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sepsi OSK lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
At 38 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.06, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: CFR Cluj keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad31 Aug 2026
500 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Market31 Aug 2026
Botosani pay $74.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Sepsi OSK asked and Levski said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Giannis Anestis: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match19 Aug 2026
Botosani march on in the cup
CS Dinamo Bucharest are out and Botosani go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Botosani say no — this time
The offer from Universitatea Craiova for Djibril Diaw was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Denis Ştefan at 20 — 7.86
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Denis Ştefan did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Narcis Ilaş has gone, the accounts have $1.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Botosani's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Botosani has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Potenza keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market24 Aug 2026
Business is business: Narcis Ilaş goes
Dinamo Bucharest paid $1.2M and Botosani took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.