Marked for Andrei Chindriş
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ryan Leijten was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Martin Ruskov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ryan Leijten was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.45. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Oct 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 The request is on a desk at Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 22 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kristiyan Malinov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ryan Leijten was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ognjen Laušević
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lokomotiv Plovdiv can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Zapro Dinev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Lokomotiv Plovdiv needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market12 Oct 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lokomotiv Plovdiv, another week without a signature from Iliyan Kapitanov.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lokomotiv Plovdiv can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Dyego Sousa 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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Rui Areias scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Arda, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ryan Leijten 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.
Market5 Oct 2026
No place for Efe Ali in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Efe Ali has his answer from Lokomotiv Plovdiv; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Ludogorets was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Dyego Sousa 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ryan Leijten 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrei Chindriş
“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.
Boardroom28 Sep 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stefan Milanov after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The formation has left Balelo behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Lokomotiv Plovdiv will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Lokomotiv Plovdiv until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dyego Sousa 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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Lokomotiv Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Leijten 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Lokomotiv Plovdiv asked and Napoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ryan Leijten
“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.
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Lokomotiv Plovdiv will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Lokomotiv Plovdiv than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Levski was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market31 Aug 2026
The name of Zhivko Petkov has come up in conversations Lokomotiv Plovdiv were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets31 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Spartak 1918, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 9 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.
Match19 Aug 2026
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Spartak 1918 will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Chernomorets Burgas for Andrei Chindriş 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Lokomotiv Plovdiv have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets24 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Fehervar 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Kristiyan Malinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Lokomotiv Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Leijten 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Levski for Parvizjon Umarbaev 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Napoli keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“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; Lokomotiv Plovdiv are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Parvizjon Umarbaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Konstantin Kostadinov has, at Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA 1948 have kept their man, and Lokomotiv Plovdiv go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Ruskov and Lokomotiv Plovdiv agree another 4 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentin Atanasov 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.